The Timeless Potion
by J.A. Hastings
Summary: "Did you really think I was going to let Slughorn get rid of the only perfect potion I've ever made?"
1. Here We Go

**Hello everyone. Oh my God, I know, I'm the worst. My excuses will be at the end of this chapter. For now, let me tell you that I have not abandoned this story, and that I'm actually doing a bit of rewriting to get inspired again, so I will be uploading some chapters again with some new scenes and corrections. I love you all and thank you for sticking with me! (Also, I will be uploading this story to AO3 as well, my username is Tardislocked, so you may find me like that)  
**

"Sirius, I don't like this plan. At all."

"Come on, Remus! Don't be such spoilsport!"

"I don't think this is a very good idea."

"Me neither." Peter's voice was a murmur.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "James, stop it, I know you want to. Don't be a coward."

"It has nothing to do with being a coward!" James yelled at him. "I'm the Head Boy! I can't afford to get into much trouble now."

Sirius' eyebrows raised high. "_Much_, huh?"

Remus snorted. James glared at both of them.

"Cut the act, mate. Evans is not here, it's not like she's going to suddenly appear and give us all a lecture about responsibility and all that rubbish." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I'm not acting, and I don't fancy Evans telling us off." James responded indignantly. Since the start of the year, he had tried to live up to his new title; winning Lily Evans' trust was also a perk of the situation. Years ago, he had finally accepted that she may never like him romantically but for the sake of the students of Hogwarts, they should at least get on.

"Ok, enough. Sirius, we're not doing that weird potion. James, we know you're not acting. Peter," Peter winced at Remus' voice. "Just... stay there."

Peter nodded fervently.

"Listen to me; this is not something you two can just debate like that. This potion is dangerous, and anyway, most of the ingredients are not even at Hogwarts." Remus continued.

Sirius smirked. "Well that's why I ordered them about a week ago."

"Are you serious?" Peter asked.

The Head Boy sighed. "Of course he is, do you really think he wouldn't buy dark magic stuff with the money _his family _has.

"They even have a private vault for that." Sirius shivered and then cleared his throat. "But anyway, this is not 'dark magic stuff', I wouldn't go near that even if Evelyn McGrath gave it to me."

"Not even Evelyn McGrath?"

"Not even her, Peter." That was enough to make them laugh joyously. "No even when Evelyn McGrath is the most gorgeous Ravenclaw to have graced these halls."

Remus crossed his arms. "You said the same thing about Mei Chang last week."

Sirius ignored him. "Back on topic, this is our last year, we were supposed to be interrupting classes with jokes from Zonko's, snogging girls in cupboards, and getting out of school with a little help from my friends." He winked and put his hand in his pocket where the Marauder's Map rested. "But then," he paused dramatically. "James gets cursed with having to be in charge of maintaining the school peaceful and _boring_."

"Why don't you write to Dumbledore filing in your complaint, then, and shut up?"

"He did send him a letter; you should have read what Dumbledore answered." James answered Remus. "In fact, I'll go and fetch it."

James walked towards the boys' chambers, but just before he could start climbing the stairs Sirius said:

"So, can we do the potion?"

"NO!"

* * *

Lily Evans woke up. It was normal for her to wake up at six am, take a shower, dress, do her hair, and read a book until breakfast started.

And today wasn't different. After taking a hot shower, putting on her uniform and brushing her wavy, dark red hair, she sat down on her bed, and opened her old copy of her favourite Muggle book: _Pride and Prejudice_.

Skipping through the pages, she stopped at the chapter she had been reading the night before, but couldn't finish because a certain group of boys had been yelling at each other down at Gryffindor's Common Room.

The Marauders, as they called themselves, had always being at the top of Lily's black list, especially their messy-haired, glasses-wearing ringleader, James Potter. With his good looks and prankster reputation, James was one of the two most popular guys at school. The other one was his equally annoying best mate, Sirius Black, who had the title of Hogwarts' biggest womaniser and three times winner of Witch Weekly's most charming smile, best body and most beautiful eyes.

The only Marauder Lily, somehow, respected and had talked to before this year, had always been Remus Lupin, whose lycanthropy she had found out last year. He was the nicest of the four, and was studious and mature. Lily had to admit that she had had a small crush on him in her second year at Hogwarts, but after realising he could be as much of a troublemaker as his fellow Marauders, she had given up on him.

And then, there was Peter Pettigrew, who worshipped Potter and Black as heroes, and always stood close to them, admiring their successful pranks. Peter was the shortest and chubbiest member, and was always seen trailing after his troublemaking friends with a face full of wonder that screamed 'I am so lucky to be here'.

Lily sighed. After remembering them, she couldn't read in peace anymore. The person in the bed next to hers stirred and sat up.

"Hey, Lils."

"Hey, Alice." Lily gave her friend a small smile, and watched her get up, and close the bathroom's door.

By the time Alice came out, Lily's friends, Marlene McKinnon, Dorcas Meadowes, and Emmeline Vance had already woken up, and dressed. As soon as Alice put a foot into the bedroom, the three of them threw themselves into the bathroom, shouting at Alice and exclaiming they were going to be late for breakfast _and _for class.

"You could have woken us up, Lily!" Marlene said as Dorcas tried to comb her hair into a loose ponytail.

Emmeline was tying her tie around her neck. "You are always up before us."

Lily tried hard not to grimace. "Ok, ok, it's my fault. Just hurry up, will you?!"

They finally got ready, and ran to the Great Hall. The Marauders were already there, sitting in front of the only empty seats in the whole Gryffindor table.

_Great_, Lily thought, _now I have to seat in front of Potter._

Lily and her friends sat down and filled their plates with food. The Marauders were so deep in discussion they didn't even notice them. She caught some words like 'potion', 'we said no, Sirius' and 'I want more cake' among their hushed whispers.

"First class today, is Potions." Marlene said huffing. "What potion are we doing?"

"What about Amortentia, that's a difficult one, and Slughorn will be delighted." Lily suggested after taking a sip of pumpkin juice. Alice and Dorcas nodded.

"Alright, Amortentia, then." Emmeline said.

After a short and hurried breakfast they hastily headed to the Potions dungeon, where they sat and waited for Slughorn to arrive. James kept stealing glances at the back of Lily's head, as she took out the ingredients to prepare her love potion. He had always loved her hair, deep red and luscious. It looked so soft he wanted to bury his hand in it and caress it, feeling the long tresses graze his skin...

"Well, students!" Slughorn had just entered the classroom carrying two heavy books. "Today, we're preparing an Advanced potion as I said last class, so get together in groups of four or five, and start."

Slughorn passed every student quickly in favour of walking up to Lily's group and asking which potion they were doing.

"Amortentia, sir." Emmeline said.

"Very good, very good, indeed. You'll tell me how it smells for all of you after you've finished it!"

The girls paled. What? Tell him, in front of the class?

Then, he padded over to the Marauder's table. "And so, lads, what is your potion?"

Remus opened his mouth to answer, but Sirius, with a smirk on his face, put a hand on his mouth, and said firmly. "The Timeless Potion."

James, Peter and Remus gaped at him. Wait, what?

Slughorn's eyes grew considerably big. "Well, I certanly hope you can do it. I can't wait to see it done!" And he bounced to another group.

"Sirius!" James growled.

"You promised." Remus said sternly.

"I never promised. And we know we'll be able to do it! Come on!" Sirius beamed at them. James smacked him on the head as his friend started to extract the ingredients for it from his backpack. Finally, Remus sighed.

"There's no going back now, let's just do it."

They started brewing the potion, and after two hours, the slightly yellow glow coming out of the top of their cauldron indicated they had finished. Slughorn walked to the girls' place, and they prepared themselves for the simple question.

"What do you smell?" Slughorn asked Alice. Frank Longbottom, who was at the other end of the dungeon, raised his head at that.

Alice sniffed. "It's not a flowery smell, but it smells like plants, and forest." Her team-mates smiled at each other. They knew Frank was very good at Herbology.

Then it was Emmeline's turn who muttered, "wood and soil." while looking at Amos Diggory. Marlene murmured hers so low, that nobody but Lily heard. She knew her friend was _in love _with Sirius, even though he had never shown any signs that he reciprocated the feeling. Dorcas only said "your cologne." to Benjy, her boyfriend, and then came Lily's turn. James, who hadn't really being paying attention until then, tensed.

"What do you smell, Lily?"

Lily took a deep breath and got a dreamy expression. "Cinnamon, and broom shed." She frowned before turning back to Slughorn who was grinning widely.

"Full marks!" He exclaimed and he muttered a spell to clean the cauldron. He continued with the groups, and vanished the potions as he passed by.

So happy was he about the cleverness of his students, that he did not notice Sirius Black taking out a little bottle, filling it with his Timeless Potion and putting it in his robes' pocket.

* * *

Later that night, Lily and James were in a Heads meeting in the now empty Common Room talking about the Halloween Ball, since they had been assigned to plan part of it. Being in close proximity, Lily could feel the warmth of James' skin; she could smell his sweet cologne and musk. She could not deny Potter was handsome; she had always thought so, but his attitude had always put her off. This year, however, he had changed. There was something about him that made her really wonder what had happened that had made him different, she wanted to know if it was only because he had finally understood bullying was not funny or because something in particular had opened his eyes at last.

Trying to turn her full attention back to the paper in front of her, she glanced at his friends. The Marauders were around them; Remus and Peter were playing chess while Sirius read a Muggle motorcycling magazine and commenting on their game.

"And... Peter wins again."

Remus pursed his lips and glared at Peter. "Are you _at least_ going to let me approach the middle of the board?"

Peter gave him a smug smile. "Nope."

"I'm exhausted." Lily said yawning.

"Let's call it a night, okay?" James said standing up.

"No, wait! Not yet!" Sirius took out the bottle from his pocket and held it up for everyone to see. They stared at it.

"Sirius, why the hell do you have that? Give it to me."

Sirius gave James one of his famous 'stop being so dull' looks. "Did you really think I was going to let Slughorn get rid of the only perfect potion I've ever made?"

"Black," Lily thumbed her wand on the right side of her robes. "Give the potion to Potter. _Now._"

"What?" The curly haired teen gaped at her. "Of course not. I'm keeping this for when one of my crazy, Death Eater wannabe cousins try to kill me, which might be pretty soon."

"Give it to Potter!" Lily took out her wand and pointed it at him.

"No!"

And then Lily was yelling a spell, and Sirius was running, and the little bottle was falling from his hand and braking, spilling its contents and tainting the five teenagers who had jumped abruptly when they saw what was happening. The room around them twisted and turned, and they knew no more.

**Okaaaaaaaaaaaaay, excuses:**

**1. I totally forgot about Harry Potter (and that's really sad bc I used to swear to myself that I would never abandon this fandom)**

**2. I got into tv shows rather than books (yes, pretty much I'm all Sherlock, Doctor Who and all that) (btw, if you like them, I've got a tumblr where I post a lot about that: billywigins . tumblr . com without spaces)**

**3. I've been incredibly busy with school and now with university (God help me)**

**4. And I clearly forgot how it feels to be left with a cliffhanger (I'm a terrible person, sorry)**

**All in all, I'm back! And I _will _write chapter 14 and post it. I love you all!**


	2. Kids of the Future

**A/N: Here is the second chapter. Hope you enjoy it! I don't own HP!**

Lily caught a sweet smell. It wasn't disturbing, on the contrary, it was nice. It was cinnamon.

Cinnamon. James.

She opened her eyes and gazed around. She was in a hallway, which she recognized to be part of the short-cut she always took to the Transfiguration classroom. She was still in Hogwarts.

Something moaned under her. She looked down to see a messy, jet-black haired person staring dizzily at her. James' hazel eyes examined her face before his face broke into a smile.

"Could you please-?" He raised an eyebrow looking embarrassed. Lily blushed.

"Yes, yes." Lily muttered. As soon as they were on their feet, Sirius and Remus came dragging a very pale Peter from a small broom closet.

"Man!" Sirius said dusting off his robes. "Why did we have to appear in there?"

Remus sighed. "Don't know. What I'm actually wondering is where we are."

"Hogwarts. Definitely." Lily said nodding.

"Yes, but I meant what yea-"

"Lily! James!" A male, desperate voice said.

They gasped, and quickly hid behind a wall.

"Did someone just call us?" Lily murmured to the stunned Marauders. James nodded slightly, frowning. "Seems so..."

"If they are calling us... why are we hiding?"

"I don't know I just got nervous and-"

Sirius' voice was cut by another one yelling.

"-I don't care! Just let me g-"

"No way Lily, not until you answer me first!"

Lily's eyes grew wider. The mysterious voice wasn't calling them, it was calling _other _James and Lily. But... were there other students with their names at Hogwarts?

_No, I don't know any... _She thought.

"Lily, look!" James muttered nudging her, and signalling with his head. She looked up and gasped.

A red-headed girl stopped dead in the hallway and looked around. She had a rather disgusted look on her face, combined with determination and anger.

Then, running footsteps were heard as she slowly looked back before a messy-haired boy with glasses caught her from behind.

The Marauders and Lily looked at them stunned. _James_ was _hugging_ Lily... and she hadn't slapped him yet!

...

SLAP!

_Oh, that must have hurt_, Sirius thought touching the side of his head.

"Ow! Lily! What was that for?"

"For being a git!"

There was a paused silence in which James'-look-alike rubbed his now red cheek, and the past people gaped at them noiselessly.

More footsteps were heard and another boy that looked like James (but with green eyes) appeared, panting hard. He bended over and tried to catch his breath.

"You... are... dead... brother!" He yelled at the other James. His eyes narrowed. "Don't you harm Lily, you idiot!"

"Not now, Albus. I want her to answer my question!" The boy turned to the little redhead in front of him. She gave him a stern look. "WHY WERE YOU WITH THAT GIT?"

Lily blushed harder. James was jealous, or so it seemed. And even if she would never admit it to a single living soul, she felt flattered.

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER!"

_James. Sirius. Potter? James **Sirius** Potter?_ James thought. _My middle name is Charlus, not Sirius! _He looked at Sirius, who stared back and shrugged.

Then, another red-headed girl came from where the voice shouting James Sirius' name came from. She had her hands on her hips, and her eyes were slits.

James Sirius' hand flew to his hair as a wide smirk made its appearance.

"Well hello, Lillian!"

Lily mouthed the word 'what', and raised her eyebrows so high that they disappeared into her hair. So he wasn't jealous after all... then what made him yell at her like that. She looked at the other Lily, and noticed some differences. She didn't have as much freckles as Lily did, and she was slightly shorter. But what caught her attention the most was her eye-color. Where Lily was expecting to see a pair of almond-shaped, emerald green orbs, she found two chocolate brown eyes.

"Potter, you've got _no right_ to call me that. I'm Marks to you! And you missed your detention!"

"Whatever you say Lilypads."

"Ugh, I hate you!"

Sirius gave James and Lily a look that clearly meant 'isn't that behaviour familiar to you?'. Both of them blushed and looked away. Remus on the other hand, kept thinking why this was happening. This couldn't be the past, of course. Was this the...? The...

His eyes widened.

Yeah, that must be it. That bloody potion had taken them to the future! They were in the _future_! Did this meant James would finally get Lily? Remus had been one of the three official witnesses of James' love for Lily. He had seen his friend's face shine with bright enthusiasm every morning, yelling 'Today is the day, I know it!' and get to bed with a depressed look from third to sixth year. He had been the one to try to console James when he had seen him crying once. He had always thought James' so called love for Lily was an obsession, but that night, he realized he was totally serious.

"Did you know, that hate is a passionate feeling?" James S. smirked at Lillian.

She blushed as crimson as her hair.

"W-What? Are you implying that I-?"

"Not implying, _accusing _more like."

SLAP!

"Hey! I've been slapped by two red-headed Lilies today! My cheeks will fall down! My precious, beautiful cheeks."

"Mate, you really are arrogant!"

The Marauders and Lily saw another ginger boy approaching. He had a big smile on his face.

"Fred!" James S. yelled. "_You _are telling me?"

He took a strand of his friend's hair and tugged hard.

"OWWWW! MY GLORIOUS, AMAZING HAIR!"

"Doesn't that remind you of someone?" Remus whispered nodding towards Sirius who shrugged and frowned. Sirius loved his hair even more than the whole girl population at Hogwarts. And _that _was saying something.

"James Sirius, don't kill Lily Luna or I'll do everyone a favour and push you off a cliff!"

"Another red-head?" Peter asked looking at the others. In fact, a bushy-haired girl with brown eyes had come holding the hand of a blonde boy.

As soon as James S. saw them, he growled and started towards the boy, but the girl glomped him, and fell to the floor with a loud thump.

"Ow, Rose! Why is everyone hitting me today?"

"Because you're being a git." Lily Luna said.

Lillian rolled her eyes."Isn't he always?"

"Explain to me, Rose! Why are you holding Scorpius Malfoy's hand?" James S. bellowed angrily.

Rose frowned with fury and yelled. "Because we're going out!"

Silence fell upon the teenagers as the people from the past, confused by the whole thing they were seeing, looked at each other. Why was that James Sirius kid so protective over this girl? Didn't he like the other girl, Lillian?

James S. finally found his voice. "What...?"

"Lily was talking to him because I needed him to know about our date on Saturday wouldn't be possible because of the Quidditch training you planned, and I was doing homework!" Rose caught her breath and continued talking. "Just because you're my cousin doesn't mean you can interfere in my love life, James! I'm not your sister!"

"Hey! Does that mean he can interfere in mine?"

Everyone rolled their eyes.

"Well, whatever, James. You have to accept our relationship." Rose said pulling Scorpius closer to her and glaring. James S. huffed and looked away. But, his eyes landed on five people. Five people whose eyes were on him. Five people who gasped and hid.

"T-t-t-t-" James S. muttered pointing with his finger to the hallway.

"What?" Lily Luna asked him, looking in the direction her brother was signing and covered her mouth with both her hands. Sirius had tried to sneak a peak at them to see if James S. was still staring, and swore under his breath when they saw him. The future kids ran to them.

"T-t-them." James S. finally said.

And Rose started panicking.

"Oh my God! Aren't they-?"

"Yes, they are." Albus answered, not taking his stare off the eyes he had inherited. Scorpius was the only one not understanding what was going on, until his eyes landed on Remus.

"That-That's Ted's dad!"

Rose smacked him and shook her head, her eyes wide open. She had to do something. She looked at her shocked cousins. No, they were too stunned to do anything. So she decided to do the first thing that came to her mind.

"Let's take them to the Headmistress."

**A/N: So, this is the second chapter. I tried to write their personalities taking account of what they seemed to be like in the Epilogue, but since they're older in this story than in the end of the Deathly Hallows, there are some things I added out of my imagination.**

**I'm writing the third chapter right now, please REVIEW!**


	3. Appearance and Names

**A/N: This is the third chapter. I just want to clarify some things. First, I included Peter – though I hate him – because when in the MWPP era, the Marauders were inseparable, and that means that if something like this would happen, they'd be together. Second, I know you might get confused with the whole namesake thing, so Lily and James II will be called by their first and middle names. Thanks for your reviews! I don't own HP!**

"Explain this to me again, Miss Weasley. Because if you don't, I think I'll need to go to St. Mungo's."

Rose looked back at her cousins who were staring unashamedly at their grandparents, and then back at the Headmistress.

"Well, you know who they are, of course." she said. "We think... they might have travelled in time."

McGonagall let out the breath she had been unconsciously holding. "Well, that's obvious! If they hadn't, they wouldn't be here!"

Rose flinched and blushed slightly.

Lily was speechless. They were in the future! And it was Sirius Black's fault! She looked to her right, and stared at the heir of the House of Black with incredulity. If they had travelled to the future, that meant that the Marauders had actually brewed the Timeless potion correctly. She, herself couldn't do it, and she was the best potioneer in her year. Slughorn loved to make good critics to her about her potions at the Slug Club parties he planned.

Suddenly, James' voice cut her train of thought. "Professor, is that really you? Oh my God!"

McGonagall rolled her eyes. "Yes, Potter, it's me."

"Wow, Minerva, time has done well to you, huh?" Sirius said with a sly grin.

"Mr. Black, I don't recall allowing you to call me so intimately. I'm the Headmistress to you."

"I'm sorry, what?" Remus, who had noticed the mention of being the Head of Hogwarts more than the others, took a step closer to the desk. "Isn't Professor Dumbledore headmaster in this time?"

"I'm sorry, to inform you, Mr. Lupin, that I'm not anymore." Lily's head snapped towards the source of the voice, and the Marauders gasped. There, just behind the big, old chair, at the top of the wall, was the portrait of Albus Dumbledore. He was wearing his usual midnight-blue robes, and his glasses rested on his crooked nose.

"B-But-" Peter finally talked. He was signing the portrait with wide eyes.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Yes, Mr. Pettigrew?"

Peter blushed. "N-Nothing." he replied quietly.

"Wormtail!" Sirius whined. "You ruined the fun!"

"Only Black would think that." A bored voice said so low, that it seemed like a whisper. Sirius looked up around the room, but didn't see the person that had just talked. He shrugged.

_I'm hearing voices_, he thought.

"So... what are we going to do with them?" Fred asked raising his eyebrows.

McGonagall kept her stare on Dumbledore, and the future and past kids realized she wanted him to decide what would happen. The ex-headmaster closed his eyes tiredly and sighed.

"Minerva, I think they should stay here for the remaining week. The Christmas break is approaching, and I don't think they," He nodded towards Rose, James Sirius, Lily Luna and Albus. "will want to stay here."

For a moment, it seemed as if James Sirius was about to accept, but one look from Lily Luna shut him up.

"So, I suggest talking to their parents." Dumbledore finished.

James and Lily glanced at each other. Remus noticed this. Could these kids be his friends' children? It certainly looked like it, but he had to recognize, that even when James was arrogant, he wouldn't name a child after him. He had always complained about people having the same first name as their parents, though, he didn't have a problem with middle names.

Lily, for her part, thought this future might be an Alternate Universe. For her, it was clear that James S. and Lily L. were really similar to her and James, but she couldn't picture herself married with Potter, and definitely not as a mother.

"I'll use the Floo network later." McGonagall said and she turned to give her past students a sweet look that scared even Remus. It was so tender, that it was weird to see that expression in their Transfiguration teacher. "Mister Malfoy, you can leave now."

Scorpius gave Rose a kiss on the cheek, and left.

"For your being here, you'll attend the sixth year classes." At the look on the Marauders' faces, she clapped her hands together. "You'll have to endure it, for now. You will also have to change your names. I'll leave that up to you. James,"

"Yes." answered the both of them.

"Past James," McGonagall glared at them. "And Lily, you will have to change your appearance and names. Remus, Sirius and Peter, only change your last names. Miss Marks?"

Lillian, who had been silent the whole time, had raised her hand. "Um, Headmistress, if I may," McGonagall nodded. Lillian cleared her throat, and looked at the past people.

"I'm Gryffindor's prefect since last year, so anything you need, you may ask me. I will also help you with the name changing issue."

"Good luck." James Sirius muttered. Unfortunately for him, Lillian heard him.

"Shut up, Potter. Don't mess with me."

"James," Albus nudged his brother. "Don't start on her, ok?"

"Well, off you go, then." McGonagall said, and with a last 'thank you' the eleven of them left to the Gryffindor Tower.

As they made their way to their House's dorms and Common Room, the Potter siblings kept glancing at their grandparents, and tried to get the image of their father's shocked face when he finds out of their heads. It would certainly be more difficult for him than for them.

When they reached the Fat Lady's portrait, her eyes went wide for a second.

She had seen them.

"But, how-?"

Albus cut her by saying, "Balderdash." The Fat Lady looked both offended by the interruption, and totally and completely awed. She had seen those five say the password so many times... but several years ago.

"Aren't they-?"

"Balderdash!" Lillian yelled at her. The Fat Lady gasped and the portrait swung open.

"That's why you shouldn't mess with her." Albus whispered quietly, but the Marauders and Lily heard.

"I know," James Sirius whispered back, smirking. "A red-head, with fiery temper. That's how I like them."

Lily stared. It was the kind of thing the James of her time used to say about her. And James seemed to think so to, because he also kept his eyes on James Sirius until they crossed the hole.

"Well, that's pretty rich considering your mother is too." Lillian suddenly said turning around. This caught Lily and James' attention even more. "And I'm in good terms with Mrs. Potter, remember I know her." And after grimacing at him, she made them sit.

Once they were sitting on the red couches by the fireplace, Lillian took over once again as the prefect she was.

"Well, let's start by changing appearance. I'm sorry, Lily Evans?" Lily stood up and so did Lillian. With a wave of her wand, Lillian gave the girl in front of her, bright-blue eyes, and blonde hair. "What is your middle name and your mother's maiden last name?" Lily was impressed. This girl seemed prepared for anything. She could be a good Auror.

"Marie, and Green."

"That's your name. Marie Green, is that ok with you?" Lily nodded. "Great. Now, James Potter – Oh don't be a prat – I meant James Potter the First, and you know it!"

James Sirius, who had jumped up at the mention of his name, sat down grinning. Lillian gave past James Weasley-red hair, and made it lie flat just a little.

"Why don't you pretend to be a Weasley for now?" Rose asked him. "It's better for you to say that, and nobody will suspect since there's a lot of us."

"Understatement of the year." Fred said.

"Then, I'll be... Charlus Weasley. How's that? My middle name and the Weasley surname!"

"Won't do." Fred shook his head. "We have an uncle called Charlie, it will be suspicious. Stay as James, nobody will recognize you with the make-over Marks just did."

Lillian seemed satisfied at that, and sat down looking slightly smug.

"What about us?" Peter asked.

"You need to have your names changed as well." Albus tapped his chin with his index finger.

"I'll be Orion White. I want something totally different from my surname, you see." Sirius grinned sheepishly.

"And I'll go by the name of... Romulus... Romulus Jones." Remus said.

Fred, and the future kids except for Lillian laughed.

"What's so funny?" Sirius asked startled by their laughter.

"Sorry," Lily Luna said between laughs. "Inside joke."

"Care to share?"

"Sorry, we can't." Rose said. They all had been told that Remus had adopted that name for Potterwatch.

"Ok, so, you all have new names." Lillian said. "You two – James and Sirius – will go to sleep with..."

"Me!" James Sirius' hand flew to the air.

"No way." But he gave her a puppy face. "Alright, alright. You'll go with him."

The three of them grinned at each other.

"And we'll go with Albus, right?" Peter asked timidly.

"Yes."

"So, tomorrow we have Transfiguration, first period, and then Potions." Lillian stood up again. "I'll see you in the morning. Good night."

"'Night" everyone said.

"Gimme a kiss, Marks. You're forgetting the good-night kiss!" James S. called after her, but she only waved and disappeared into the girls' dormitory stairs.

**A/N: Another chapter done! So, about Lillian saying she knows Ginny, it's true, I will write about it during the Christmas break they take.**

**Please REVIEW! I love it when you tell me what you think!**


	4. Herbology and Potions

**ghA/N: Here's chapter 4! By the way, I don't know where I read it, but I think Seamus and Lavender got married, so their kid is... one of James S.' stalkers here. Enjoy it!**

Lily could barely open an eye the other morning. She was used to waking up early, but it seemed that this time, she was too exhausted to even move. So she stayed there, laying on the bed after peeking at the clock beside her bed to check the time. It was 6:30 am, and classes started at 8:30.

As she accepted the fact that she wouldn't stand up in a while, Lily started making mental notes of the homework she was supposed to give that day.

Her eyes widened. It all came back to her. The Marauders' fight, the smell of her Amortentia, Sirius and the Timeless potion...

She bolted out of bed at this, but got dizzy, and fell back with a soft thump. Looking around the bedroom, wishing childishly that it all had been a very bad dream, she realized that the person in the bed next to her didn't have blonde hair like Alice did, and she was much more tidy than her best friend was.

_It wasn't a dream, _she thought, sighing. She glanced at Lillian, who had stirred a bit, and then woke up.

"Good morning, Lily." She said politely.

"Morning, Lillian."

Lillian disentangled herself from the pure-white sheets that surrounded her and stood up.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine... I guess. Just... bewildered."

Lillian laughed. "Don't worry, it's understandable."

After changing and getting ready, Lillian introduced Lily to her room-mates as 'a friend of mine from Beauxbatons', and then headed down to the Common room, where the others waited for them.

It was weird, but as soon as Lily saw James, her worries somehow vanished, and she felt more carefree. James gave her a stunning smile, which she responded with a shy small one.

Sirius stared wide-eyed at this moment the two had silently shared. He had never seen Lily nervous, and of course not around James. She was always confident and had clever comebacks to yell at them; and when he told this to James as they entered the Great Hall, his best friend just sighed. Getting his hopes up, and during this time, wasn't very good.

"James!" James' head turned back to the source of the voice. It was a sandy-haired girl, with dark-brown eyes. It wasn't long until James realized that she hadn't called _him _but the other James. He took a quick glance at James Sirius and saw him roll his eyes, and look at Fred with a hint of rude impatience.

"Hey, Finnigan." He heard him say.

The girl squealed and attempted to hug him, but James Sirius moved to the side, and she hit the wall. Fred and the Marauders sniggered.

"Potter, be nice to the other students." Lillian hissed.

James Sirius smirked. "How about this: _You _go out with me, and I'll be nice even to Filch."

"Not in this life."

"Would you mind if I take you to... other life?"

Lillian smacked him in the head, and dragged Lily to sit in between Lily Luna and Albus. Both James stared after their red-heads as they disappeared into the Gryffindor crowd before sitting down with Sirius and Remus flanking them. Peter sat in front of them.

"They've changed or first class, Lillian just told me. We have Herbology instead of Transfiguration, seems the teacher had a problem."

"Ok, thanks, Pete." Remus said helping himself with chocolate cake.

"Who is the Herbology teacher?" Sirius asked.

"Don't know." Peter shrugged.

When they arrived to the Green Houses, Lily let out a small shriek. The Professor behind a fully-grown Mandrake, resembled her friend, Alice. It was like seeing a masculine version of her, with a few mistakes.

"Hey Uncle Neville!" James Sirius waved at his uncle as he entered the Green House. Neville grinned.

"How are you doing, James?"

"I'm fine, training hard to win the Quidditch match on Wednesday." He grinned too.

Neville shook his head. "Just like your father, when he was here in his sixth year, the only thing he could think about was your mum and Quidditch." James Sirius glanced at Lillian, this was noticed by Neville. "And it seems that you're just like him. You better win that match against Hufflepuff, if we don't, I'll give you detention. Remember I'm your Head of House."

"There will be no need for that. We're going to win. Definitely."

And with one last smile, Neville directed his attention to his now settled class. "Ok, today, we're transplanting Mandrakes. I know you've already done this in your second year, but this is practice. Come one, all of you grab a partner and start transplanting."

"Wanna pair up with me?" James asked Lily. Sirius gapped at his best mate. They were supposed t be partners.

"Sure." Lily answered blushing. Sirius walked up to Remus and asked to be his partner, but he was working with Peter. He asked James Sirius and saw he was working with Fred, so he strode directly to the only person working alone.

Lillian didn't like been partnered, she preferred doing everything alone. Sirius was, of course, unaware this. After grabbing two pairs of mufflers, and handing one to her, he asked, "Could you possibly grant me your company in this class, milady?"

Lillian raised an eyebrow at him. "Why should I?"

"Because. Just because."

Lillian eyed him. "Ok, since you're so desperate..."

"Hey, I'm not- Ok, I am."

"Good."

Sirius grabbed the Mandrake and pulled it out of the pot. It shrieked and cried loudly. "I hate this." He mouthed to Lillian who, surprisingly, nodded and mouthed "Me too." with a smile.

Not far, a raven-haired boy glared at the pair. James Sirius had worked six years to be able to even talk to Lillian, but nothing but yelling had come out of her mouth. Now, he had seen her smile, smile at other that wasn't him. He couldn't help but feel jealous, although he knew that jealousy wouldn't last long, since Sirius had to go back to his time.

Pulling the Mandrake furiously, and trying to concentrate on the roots, his eyes drifted towards his grandparents. They were talking and giving each other a very shy smile. He had always heard from his father that the relationship his grandparents shared, wasn't too different from his and Lillian's, and he always thought they'd end up together, just like they did. But there hadn't been any progress with his red-head, and that made him upset.

The bell finally rang, and they walked to their next class: Potions, with Slughorn.

"Class, today we'll be brewing Amortentia."

_No! Not again_, Lily thought. Her face gave her thoughts away, and the Marauders noticed.

"Make groups, and start. Don't worry, I won't make you say how it smells for you!"

Lily visibly relaxed, and so did the entire class.

Lily, two of Lillian's friends called Annie and Gina, and Lillian herself, made a group. It wasn't long until Slughorn hovered over their table to see their potion.

"Blimey!" he exclaimed. "This potion seems perfect. As if made by Lily Evans!"

Lily's face seemed to go stony.

"She was a great student, y'know? Very bright, very clever witch. It's of course lamentable that-"

"Professor!"

Slughorn looked at Lillian. "Yes, Marks?"

"Marie... is not feeling well." She gave Lily a look that clearly said 'keep-it-going'; she nodded. "And I was wondering if I could take her to Madam Pomfrey."

"Go on, go on. I don't want anyone sick in here!"

Both red-headed girls set off from the class averting their eyes from James Sirius, Fred and the Marauders.

"What's going on?" Lily asked. Why hadn't Lillian let Slughorn finish his sentence?

"Look... Marie." She said as some students that were in the hallway passed. "Let's go to Gryffindor Tower, I'll... explain there."

Once they entered their empty bedroom, Lily turned on Lillian and asked for a clear answer.

"Ok, talk now." she crossed her arms and waited.

Lillian hesitated. "You're not supposed to know anything about the future!"

"Why not?"

"Because it's the future, that's why!"

"But-"

"Listen," Lillian sat down on her bed. "You'll get some details of the future when you go to the Potters' for Christmas, believe me, but until now, I'm sorry, but we won't tell you anything."

Lily frowned. This was all very strange, but she agreed. "Alright."

This was going to be a long week.

**A/N: So, I know they haven't found out yet, BUT! Wait until they meet Harry, the real fun will start there. Please REVIEW!**


	5. Meet the Parents

**A/N: So, thanks for your reviews, and Merry Christmas! And since some people wanted to know about Lillian, here it is:**

**Lillian Marks is a muggle-born witch. She's Gryffindor's prefect, and is currently in sixth year along with James Sirius, Fred and Louis Weasley who hasn't made his appearance yet (he does in this chapter!). She's like Lily Evans'-next-generation version. She's a red-head, but has hazel eyes.**

**And, she won't be falling for Sirius, don't worry about that. That was never my intention, I just wanted James Sirius to feel jealous :D.**

**I tried to make this chapter longer and more detailed, that's why I took so long. Now, on with the chapter.**

**This is the last time I'll make the disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor its characters. I only own the plot of this story.**

James Sirius Potter was a very popular bloke. Girls from all houses (even Slytherin) were head-over-heels for him; but, his eyes were glued to one Lillian Marks. He couldn't help staring at her during breakfast, classes, lunch, the free period, classes, dinner, when she was studying in the common room... all the time. It was exhilarating for him to receive a "Sod off, Potter!", that meant that she had spotted him, and that was enough for him.

Until a _Sirius _distraction appeared before her.

He kept glaring holes at the back of Sirius' head every time he would try and flirt with her. He knew, from what his father had told him, that Sirius had never been serious – no pun intended – with any girl while he was at Hogwarts, as said by his dead fellow Marauder, Remus Lupin. His dad had told him that Remus had said that once, and since James Sirius worshipped the Marauders as the Prankster's Gods, he had paid attention to every detail. He had been said to be just like his namesakes, and hearing that had made him proud.

But now, he was not as sure about that, at least not about his middle name.

"Would you like to study with me, oh fair lady?" Sirius asked Lillian as they both sat by the fire with the other past people in the Common Room.

She grinned at him. "No. Way." and then stalked off upstairs, leaving Sirius gaping slightly. He had never been rejected by a girl, of course, not counting the Slytherins.

James Sirius, missing already the object of his adoration, jumped to his feet, and walked out of the Common Room, hoping to find Fred and Louis in the kitchens.

Lily Evans stared at him as he swung his bag over his shoulder, and left. There was a weird attraction she felt when she looked at him, like a desire of hugging him. It was weird, but Lily decided that it was _way _more than only weird. In only three days, she had come to discover they were in the future, and not only that, there was also a girl called Lily _Potter _in this future. Can coincidences be this accurate? Shrugging the thought away, her mind drifted off to James Potter, _her _James. _No Lily, don't be stupid, he's __**definitely **__not yours, _she thought shaking her head and turning slowly to the side to meet a pair of hazel eyes looking into her emerald-green ones.

James was gazing at her with so much intensity, that Lily's cheeks flushed, and she had to look away at once before he witnessed that unusual situation.

"I'm bored to death!" Sirius said throwing his Transfiguration book across the room; it landed in the face of a second year, who squealed and ran to the boys' dormitories.

"Cheer up!" said Peter as he licked a licorice wand, his favourite sweet. "Tomorrow in the morning we're going to your house!" He nodded towards James.

James chuckled. "You're not sure about that."

"About what?"

"That we're going to _my _house. We don't know anything about this future, maybe I had a sister back in the past and-"

"Oh, come off it, Prongs!" Sirius snorted. "We know your parents can't have more kids, so don't give us that rubbish."

"Why are you on such a bad mood?" Remus asked looking at him over his book.

Sirius huffed. "I already said it. I'm bored!"

"Why don't we go down to the kitchens? We can use the Invisibility Cloak." James said casually. Sirius' eyes shone.

"You got it."

"I'm staying." Remus and Peter said at the same time.

"Wait." Lily finally spoke. "What makes you think I'll let you do that? We're not supposed to go down to the kit-"

"Lilykins, just this time, alright?" Sirius gave her a puppy face. Lily shook her head looking solemn. "Like you aren't hungry!"

"I'm not!" Just then, her stomach rumbled. The Marauders grinned, already heading to the portrait hole.

Lily blushed. "Alright, alright." she hissed. "But anyone better not see us." And before she knew it, she was under the Cloak, James' hand in her mouth to shut her up.

She was dragged several floors down and then strolled down the hallway that led to the painting of an enormous bowl of fruit. Lily had never been to the kitchens. As prefect and Head Girl – and strict follower of the rules – she had always avoided going there, even when after a night of doing homework she felt terribly hungry.

James reached a hand out of under that Cloak, while Sirius sniggered, and tickled the pear. Lily frowned. Why is he doing that? The answer came when the pear giggled and turned into a door handle.

Feeling shocked, Lily entered the kitchens along with James and Sirius, and just before they took of the Cloak, they heard voices speaking.

"...so McGonagall didn't tell my dad about them coming. Not really at least. She told him there were some people he hadn't seen in a long time in here, and that they would like spent Christmas with him. Of course he accepted, you know how he is."

"Well," another voice said. "Our dear uncle has always been like that. All humble and kind-hearted."

"Yes well, just don't tell dad you said that, or he'll go directly to Uncle George to buy Dungbombs and set them on you."

"He would never do that, as I said he's too good to do so!"

"You never know, Fred." yet another male voice laughed.

The Marauders, realizing who they were, tip-toed slowly ahead, wishing to hear more about James Sirius' father. But Lily wasn't warned, and so the Cloak slid off her.

Fred, a boy they didn't know and James Sirius gasped, the latter pointing at the red-head as if she had suddenly grew two more heads.

"Lily-flower! You ruined it." Sirius said pouting.

James only laughed and asked a house-elf for some treacle tart. James Sirius looked at his feet while Fred introduced them to the other kid.

"James, Lily, Sirius. This is our cousin Louis." Louis smirked and waved at them. The Marauders did the same, not noticing something Lily did: Fred had said '_our _cousin', which meant...

"Lils! What do you want to eat?" Sirius asked as he called for a house-elf. Making a mental note of thinking about the matter later, Lily helped herself with a piece of chocolate cake, and forgot about it until she was back in her bedroom, tucked with the covers in her temporal bed.

Fred had said Louis was their cousin, which meant James Sirius was his cousin as well. If James Sirius was cousins with a Weasley, then his mother was a Weasley, of course. But as long as Lily knew, the Weasley family hadn't given birth to a girl for a several amount time, she knew Arthur Weasley was the youngest child of said family, and he was out of school when she entered.

She sighed.

That meant that she didn't end up with James after all, it just confirmed it to her. But why should she she be upset? James Potter was an insufferable git... or so she thought... but this year...

Lily shook her head, remembering that she would meet James' wife in the morning. After turning into a more comfortable position, she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning the three future Potters and the past people, made their trunks. Rose and Hugo were waiting for them with Fred, Louis and Louis' sister, Dominique in the outside the Common Room, since Dominique was in Ravenclaw and she couldn't go inside. The fat lady gave them a mysterious look, and disappeared to her friend's portrait.

Once in the train, they searched for a compartment.

"James, dad won't like you having that new set of fireworks." Lily Luna told her brother.

James Sirius snorted. "You won't say anything."

"How do you know?"

"I have blackmail material to use against you. Right here," he took out a piece of parchment.

Lily shrieked. "That is my letter.-"

"-sent by Lysander Scamander. _'Dear Lily, I know you just think of us as friends but-'_"

"Ok, ok. I won't tell. Just... just give it back to me."

"Do you really think he'll give it back to you?" Sirius grinned at Lily Luna.

Lily Luna huffed as the other Marauders smirked. They found an empty compartment, and after saying good-bye, Lily Luna disappeared towards her friends. Albus and James Sirius stayed with their grandparents and the others.

They played Exploding Snap and Wizard Chess during the ride. Suddenly, the train came to a halt, that meant they had arrived at King's Cross station.

Nervousness took over in the past people. The three Potter children were anxious and slightly worried for their father's response. Lifting their trunks, they made their way onto platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

Neither of them spoke, until Lily Luna shrieked. "Daddy!" and set off into the crowd. They saw a man with messy, jet-black hair and glasses smile and hug his daughter. He muttered something into his daughter's ear, and she turned around signing her brothers, the Marauders and Lily. Harry Potter raised his gaze towards his off-spring who smiled sheepishly.

He frowned, he had never seen James acting that way, that was new and totally disconcerting. He turned to his wife, and told her this. She looked at her son and smirked and said something. Harry laughed.

"Jamie!" Ginny shouted and James Sirius went red. "We missed you, so much!" And she hugged her son. She saw Lillian snorting as she turned to her parents and smiled at her. Harry kissed Albus on the head, and then hugged him too.

He hadn't noticed the people around his two sons. Not until James started gaping like a fish at him. This man looked like him, but it was obvious this was not James Potter. His nose was smaller, his skin was slightly less tanned, and behind those round glasses, emerald-green eyes examined him.

_My eyes, _Lily thought.

_Lily's eyes, _James turned to Lily who gave him the same shocked look.

Harry didn't understand this exchange. For a minute he thought this could be because he was Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived, The Chosen One, but he realized something was wrong when he gazed at his children.

"What going on?" Harry asked.

James Sirius bit his lip, and said very quietly, only for his father to hear. "Dad," he took a deep breath. "Meet your parents."

**A/N: Ok, so I considered James Sirius saying that out loud so that the Marauders and Lily would go "WHAT?", but I prefer for them to find out later. _Of course _James and Lily and the others noticed Harry's eyes, but, c'mon, there are other girls with emerald-green eyes, so I'm going to twist their explanations and hypothesis.**

**Hope you liked this chapter. Since I'm inspired, I'm writing chapter 6 now. It will be up _maybe _tomorrow. I don't really know.**

**Please REVIEW! **


	6. One Answer Each

**A/N: Here is chapter 6, sorry I couldn't update it when I said it, but I had a problem! Thanks for your reviews of chapter 5, I like reading what you think of my story. You asked me to explain some characters' relationships, so here they are:**

**Harry – Ginny: James Sirius (sixth year), Albus Severus (fifth year) and Lily Luna (third year)**

**Ron – Hermione: Rose (fifth year) and Hugo (third year)**

**Bill – Fleur: Victoire (out of Hogwarts), Louis (sixth year) and Dominique (fifth year)**

**George – Angelina: Fred (sixth year) and Roxanne (she's 10)**

**By the way, I'm going to try something so that you understand better, I know that is difficult with all the namesake thing, so, when I write _Lily_****that means Lily Evans, the same for James Potter I. I'll write James Sirius' and Lily Luna's normally. Fell free to tell me what you think of this. If you have a better idea, please tell me. :D**

Harry gaped at his son, not understanding what that meant. Yes, he had heard wrong, he was sure of it; maybe it was one of James' jokes. A very bad joke. He looked at his son, and muttered the only word that could come out.

"What?"

James Sirius looked sideways and mumbled back. "Not here, dad. Why don't we Apparate home, they change back to their appearances, you see it for yourself, and I explain... most of the things to you. Al is better with this kind of stuff." He gave a weak laugh.

Albus, seeing his brother in trouble, strolled forward and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Dad, it's true. As far as we know, it was a potion." Harry nodded and gulped, taking a quick glance at the Marauders.

"Let's go. Ginny, take them home, please." He said. Ginny gave him a curious look, and took _**Lily's**_ hand. She looked at Ginny weirdly, and then took the Marauders' hands forming a chain. A second later, they were gone.

Harry and his children arrived to the Potter House, and huffed at the same time. _There's a lot of explaining to do, _Albus thought sighing, and going to his room to leave his trunk; James Sirius and Lily Luna at his heels.

The Marauders were given the guest room, and another room that seemed to have been abandoned a while ago. It was clean but it didn't show signs of have been used lately. _**James**_ and Sirius decided to take that room, and Remus and Peter the other one.

After all of them had left their things, they went downstairs as Ginny had told them to as soon as they they had Apparated. They sat in the big, comfy living room and waited. They could hear muffled voices coming from a room to their right. There was a sign that read OFFICE, so they guessed that was where Harry worked when he was home.

Inside the office, Harry was sitting behind the desk, his hands covering his face as he sighed deeply. Albus gave his older brother a worried glance, which he responded with a nervous shrug.

"Ok," Harry muttered. "Start."

Albus took a step in front of the desk. "It was a potion, or so we were told by McGonagall. The Timeless Potion."

"Professor Snape is trying to help make it, but, it's not much help since he's a portrait now." James Sirius said. "The ingredients are not expensive and not rare, but..." He stopped uncertainly.

"...it takes two weeks to have it ready." Albus finished for him.

"But how, if they did the potion and traveled the same day!"

"Well, Rose read a book about it. It was called _Moste Potente Potions, _I think Aunt Hermione gave it to her for her birth-"

"Anyways," Albus cut his brother. "According to that book, traveling to the future is easier than traveling to the past. The book said that the potion chooses a time where the people taking it are not living anymore, so that they won't meet themselves in the future. And to make a potion with a specific time in mind, is rather difficult"

"And to the past, is even more." James finished.

This statement was followed by a very tense silence.

"Is it really them?" The two brothers looked at his father. They could almost feel the rush of emotions flooding his mind. It was a very strange sight to see their father looking so vulnerable, so worried; like a small kid, but at the same time like a very old man. He looked tired.

"Why don't you see it for yourself? We're going to let them be in their normal appearance, and so, you'll know." Albus whispered.

Harry looked at his sons. They would never lie about that, they knew how much it affected him every time he spoke of his parents. He stood up, and walked to the door.

"Dad?" James Sirius said.

"Yes, James?"

"They don't know who your mother is, I think. I mean, they thought you were grandpa, but now, they'll somehow realize you are _**James'**_ son."

"It's ok. I know we can't keep this a secret for a long time, they'll find out who is my mother, but," He took the handle. "We'll let them do so by themselves." And he opened the door.

Harry walked over to the living room, feeling as if he would collapse in any second. He was about to see his parents... and Sirius... and Remus! ... and Pettigrew. He shoved Peter from his mind, in his parents' time, this rat was their best friend. That poor excuse of a person was 'good' back then, so he decided to forget his hate towards Wormtail, and be civil, for the sake of it.

He stared at the other teenagers sitting there, looking around the house like trapped animals. As soon as they felt Harry's eyes on them, their heads turned sharply in his direction, as if they had been called.

Harry conjured a comfortable-looking chair, and sat on it with his eyes on his wife. Ginny nodded at Albus and he stood up, James Sirius followed him. They stopped in front of the Marauders and _**Lily**_**.**

"We're going to change you back to your normal appearance, only while you're here. When we go back to Hogwarts, you'll have to change again." The Marauders stood up and James Sirius raised his wand along with his brother, and waved in muttering a counter-charm. Immediately, _**James**_**'** hair, which was a dark ginger color, turned black and messy again. _**Lily**_**'s** hair darkened into an auburn red and her eyes sparkled green once again, while the Marauders changed back to themselves.

Harry's eyes widened. Indeed, in front of him stood his parents, slightly older than how he had seen them in Snape's memory, and younger than the ghosts he had talked with in the Forbidden Forest. To his father's right, his godfather smirked at him. Sirius' features were as handsome as the memory had shown him. His hair was shiny, black and shaggy, and he was the taller of the boys. Remus was on his side stroking his sandy hair. And then there was Peter, with his wide, watery eyes and round built.

Harry stared at his father, transfixed with their almost identical faces. He was sure _**James**_had noticed it too, so he gave him a small smile. They sat down again.

"So..." _**James **_mumbled looking at Harry directly in the eyes, those eyes that were so similar to... _hers._

Harry cleared his throat to catch everyone's attention, though it wasn't needed; everyone had their eyes set on him.

"Well, I was told about your... accident with the Timeless Potion just now." He said looking at each of them. "And I'm sure you want some answers. I'll grant each of you an answer, of course. Remember, of all your questions, I will be able to answer just one."

The Marauders took a glance at each other as _**Lily**_ bit her lip.

"Who would want to start?"

Sirius pointed to himself. "Me."

"Alright, ask."

"Are you... a relative of Prongs?"

Harry took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "Yes." _**James'**_ eyes went big at this answer. He gagged, but didn't say anything. He trusted Harry to continue speaking as he did.

"I'm his only son."

And hell broke loose.

"A SON? YOU HAVE A SON, MATE!"

"Wow, James. Congratulations!"

"Congrats, James."

The only two past people not talking were _**James **_and_** Lily. **_James Sirius and Albus sniggered behind their hands as they covered their mouths tightly. Lily Luna glared at them. "Insensitive prats." she muttered, only to gain a reproachful face from from her mother.

Neither of them, not even Harry, noticed _**Lily.**_ _A son, _she thought, _James has a son. _So that was it then, James had a son. She felt extremely sad, even though she couldn't make out why. Then the answer came to her.

_You like him._

She frowned. _Of course I like him, _she told herself, _he's a friend now, isn't he? _

_Are you sure you like him _just_ as a friend. Why did your Amortentia smell like him, then?_

"I-I want to ask now." _**James' **_voice came for her side. Her eyes focused on him. "Who... who is your mother?"

_**Lily's**_ heart started beating rapidly. She looked at Harry, and found that he was staring at her. She blushed at being discovered for her anticipation. Harry's eyes tore away from her and found the hem of his shirt rather interesting.

"I can't answer that question." He said truthfully.

_**James **_huffed and pouted. "Why not?"

"That may change the time stream." Ginny told him.

Harry didn't say anything, but James did. "You're going to erase our memories anyway, what's the deal then?

"The deal is," Harry sighed. "That your mind's memories will be wiped away, but that doesn't mean that your body will forget." Seeing his totally confused expressions, he explained. "This means that, you'll keep getting flashbacks and déjà vu. We can't risk that."

"Then, how are we getting back?" Remus asked seeming mildly interested.

"Professor Slughorn is making the a special Timeless Potion for you. The thing is, it will take two weeks to have it ready, so you'll be staying here for a week and a few days more, then you'll go back to Hogwarts, take the potion, and go back to your time."

"And-And where are we?" Peter asked shaking nervously "I mean, our... future-selves."

It was Ginny who answered this time, instead of her husband. "You four are in a... mission. You're Aurors, so..."

The Marauders smiled at one another, they had fulfilled their ambition in the future... or so they thought.

"Where am I, then?" _**Lily**_ put a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"You are on another mission. In Italy. Alone."

James sighed. He thought Lily was in the same mission as his. Then something popped in his mind. He shouldn't be thinking that! He had a wife in this future, and he couldn't betray her by thinking of another woman. Then he remembered that his older-self was the one married to Harry's mother, not him... yet. He loved Lily in his time.

Feeling everyone's stare on him, for he had not had a question answered yet, he racked his brain for a anything he would like to know; then finally an idea came to him.

"Do any of the them have any kids?" He smirked at his friends who stared at him as if he had gone mad, especially Remus.

Before Harry could answer, there was _pop _and turquoise-haired wizard Apparated in the middle of the living room, accidentally turning the table of over, and throwing everything to the floor.

"Oops!" He said.

"Teddy!" Lily Luna chimed as she ran to him.

"Hey, Lils!" He answered cheerfully, and not noticing the other people in the room, he turned to his godfather. "Hey, Harry! Victoire told me that she'll be arriving in an hour."

Suddenly someone coughed, making Teddy whirl around to meet with five people he had never met, bu looked at in old photographs.

His eyes swept their faces in an attempt to process what was going on. And then, he landed on the person he wanted to see the most. Teddy gaped at his father, who gave him a confused look.

Turning back to Harry, Teddy asked. "What are _they _doing _here?"_

**A/N: Ok so, I just love cliffhangers, there are great! Well, please review, I hope you all like this Christmas and New Year present to you. Bye!**


	7. Quidditch

**A/N: PLEASE READ THIS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.**

**So, well. I wanted to know – before I proceed with the story – if you'd like the past people to find out about Peter being the traitor. Because the future chapters depend on this, is that I'm asking you, my faithful readers, to judge for yourselves. Please, _please _tell me what you think.**

Teddy couldn't stop staring at his seventeen-year-old father. He was stunned, looking at his rather young face. He had only seen a picture where he was as young; it was in Sirius' old bedroom back in Grimmauld Place, permanently stuck to the wall. His eyes were the same colour as Teddy's, and he could swear that if Remus and him were next to each other, they would be around the same height.

Harry and Ginny kept their eyes nervously on Teddy, watching as every emotion passed his face. The Marauders didn't even blink, hoping this strange kid would say something about the future.

"Ted," Harry muttered, and something made its way to _Lily's _head. _"What is Ted's dad doing here?" _Yes, that Malfoy kid had said something about that boy's – Teddy, apparently – father. It was obvious he couldn't be _James', _which meant... that he was either Sirius' or Remus' or... Peter's?

She grimaced. She couldn't picture Pettigrew with a child.

"Ted, come with me." Harry said, and they both entered the office again. Teddy sunk in a chair, his face pale as chalk. He had just seen his father. His father!

"Teddy, they are here because of the Timeless Potion, I think you know about it?" Teddy nodded.

"It takes the person that takes it or taps it with their wand to the future, normally at least."

"Yes, well," Harry said closing his eyes. "It was Sirius' fault."

Teddy nodded. "I somehow guessed that."

His godfather chuckled and then looked deeply into Teddy's eyes. "Look, Ted, I – from all people – understand what you're feeling, but please, _please, _don't say anything to them about – er – certain things, like marriages, family, deaths..."

Teddy gave him a small smile. "Don't worry, Harry. I won't."

Then someone knocked lightly on the door. It was Victoire, who looked windswept, and confused; her long strawberry blonde hair looked ruffled.

Teddy hugged her tightly as Harry left his office, and locked it, walking back to the living-room.

"Dad, why are you locking Victoire and Teddy?" James Sirius asked smirking. Harry rolled his eyes at his son and shook his head. He will never change.

"Dad, we were wondering if we could play Quidditch?" Albus asked and James Sirius started nodding enthusiastically.

"Please, dad." He said and Lily Luna pouted.

Harry gave them a look, and then nodded while the three of them yelled "Victory!" and went outside. The Marauders and _Lily _were still in the sofas. Sirius and _James _looked like they wanted to jump and run behind the Potter children, but were restraining themselves; Remus and Peter were looking around the house, and _Lily_ seemed lost in thought.

Harry, watching his father and godfather silently whining, sighed. "You can go too, you know? Dinner won't be ready until later."

Their face glowed. "Really?"

"Go."

And they went to catch up with the others. _Lily _felt Harry's eyes fixated on her, and tried to not flinch. Why was he staring at her so much? During his explanation, his eyes had found hers for a split of a second, but strangely enough, he didn't seem bothered, instead, he seemed to be fascinated with her.

Finally deciding that Harry would not give up with his staring, _Lily _stood up and made her way to the half-sized Quidditch pitch that was supposed to be the Potters' garden. A black silhouette passed in a blur by her elbow and she turned to see _James _laughing at her. She saw his white teeth gleaming, and his eyes were blazing with excitement.

"Lily! This broom is amazing! It's even faster than my newest Nimbus!"

"Really? That's great." she answered in a monotone, now looking at his chest, Quidditch had done him well, and she couldn't help but ogle slightly.

"Lily?" _Lily _snapped back to reality, and blushed.

"W-What?"

He smiled again. "Want a ride?"

_Lily's _eyes widened. "No. No, no, no, NO!" But _James _had already grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her behind him. She wounded her arms around him, and as he sped up into the air, she shrieked his name, trying to make him slow down.

Dinner was ready, so Harry went and called the kids and got surprised by what he saw: His parents, in the same broom, _laughing._

"JAMES! Let me down, NOW!"

"Nope. Why would I, if you're having so much fun?" _James _laughed harder. Lily smacked him in the head, and let out a laugh as well. Harry felt his heart thump faster, the only memory where his parents had had real interaction, had depressed him to the extent of thinking his father had tricked his mother into marrying him. Now, he could finally see what Sirius had told him about them, they really loved each other.

He looked at his children, playing by the hoops he had put up for them after James made the team in his second year. Lily Luna was in front of them, playing keeper, which she normally played. James Sirius and Albus were playing chasers now, but Albus was a seeker. He smiled, happy that they would at least meet their grandparents a little bit... and he was glad and beyond ecstatic that he was meeting his _parents. _The ones who had died for him, the ones that had always been there in his heart... just not by his side, physically at least.

"It's hard, isn't it? Seeing them, I mean."

Harry turned to his right and saw Teddy had joined him. He looked nonchalant and sheepish, but was staring straight ahead.

"Yeah." Harry's reply came a whisper. "You and I are the only ones to actually understand what it feels like. Not having parents, being brought up by someone else..."

"You were good at that, y'know?" Teddy said. "Even though you didn't have the ideal childhood, you have always treated me like your own son, and I'm extremely grateful for that."

Harry smiled at his godson. "I had help. Andromeda, Molly and Ginny, and even Hermione helped me make you the man you are now, and I'm really proud of you. To me, you're my son, Ted."

"Harry! Did you call the kids?" Ginny's voice came from inside the house.

Teddy and Harry grinned at each other, and called the Quidditch players down. _Lily _and _James _descended from the broom looking radiant, both wore a happy grin on their faces, and were holding hands. Sirius and Remus were the first to note this, and of course, Sirius couldn't hold his teasing in.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A couple of lovebirds just landed!"

_Lily _and _James _blushed scarlet, and disentangled their hands. Remus tried to not laugh at their faces, for he thought they were embarrassed enough _for now, _but couldn't help feeling happy for them, they were finally taking a step forward, and _James _had ceased with his stupid wooing already.

"Let's go." He said, and grabbing Sirius by the collar dragged him to the house with the two other blushing people at their heels.

They had fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner, and a delicious treacle tart for dessert. The Marauders ate seconds, and thirds, and were about to ask fourths when they saw _Lily _giving them a glare. She would have expected _James_ and Sirius to eat like that, but Remus and Peter? _Remus? Lily _couldn't understand how they could stuff all that into their stomach; she could barely finish her piece of tart.

Ginny was a great at cooking, as Sirius reminded her through the whole dinner, and she always answered back with a "My mum cooks even better."

Harry secluded himself to his office after giving Ginny a kiss ("Dad! Don't do that in front of us!"), and the rest of the lot went upstairs to their bedrooms yawning and saying good-night.

The people who had played Quidditch slept like babies, but _Lily _couldn't sleep. Tomorrow they were going to go to Diagon Alley to buy for Christmas, and this time, she would need to buy quite a lot of presents. She decided to give Harry and Ginny books, since she didn't know much about them, she would buy Harry a book about Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Ginny a cooking book. James Sirius, Albus and Lily Luna would get each a bunch of candies, and Teddy and Victoire – though they hadn't talked at all, she thought she should get them something – would get the same. It was easier to know what to get Sirius; she was going to buy him some prank stuff, and Remus would get the newest copy of _Hogwarts, a History. _Peter... he would get chocolates, but there was someone she wasn't sure what to give.

_James._

She thought about getting him the same things as Sirius, but giving that to him would mean that he was to play a prank alongside his best mate, and she didn't want that, of course. Giving him a book would be strange, for she wasn't sure what kind of books he liked to read, and sweets weren't the best gift either...

She would have to search for something tomorrow, something unique...

And with that thought, Lily let herself fall into a deep slumber.

**A/N: Ok, so please, _please, PLEASE, _tell me what you think of this chapter, and if you would like them to know about Peter and his betrayal.**


	8. Diagon Alley Pt1:Are we really friends?

**A/N: So, I'm sorry to the people who wanted them to find out about Peter, but as I counted the reviews, it was obvious that most of you didn't want that. Here is chapter 8, and don't worry, in this chapter some of them get some 'future hints'.**

"James, give it to me NOW!"

"But mum-!"

"I said NOW!"

"Just-"

"James, do as your mother says." Harry said before taking a sip of his coffee, and leaving the _Daily Prophet _aside. Ginny and James Sirius were glaring at each other from across the table where everyone else was having breakfast. Lily Luna and Albus rolled their eyes, this was normal every time their mother received a letter from Lillian. The Marauders and _Lily, _who had changed back to their fake appearances just for today, watched amused.

"But dad! I just want to read it!"

"It's not yours."

"But-"

"Fine then," Ginny huffed. "I'll read it aloud so you'll shut up."

James Sirius grinned triumphantly, and listened as his mother read the letter.

"'_Dear Mrs. Potter, I'll be very pleased to meet you today at Diagon Alley. I'm having my parents take me to the _Prophet _so that we can discuss that thing we couldn't finish talking about. Of course I'm not saying what it is in case James is reading or listening to this, which I'm sure he's doing right now. Hoping you're alright, Lillian Marks.' _Happy now, Jamesie?"

"Very much, thanks." James Sirius cringed when Ginny smacked him in the head, and didn't talk until they finished breakfast, maybe he thought his mother's anger might have disappeared by then. Teddy and Victoire left first, saying they needed to visit Victoire's parents who lived near the beach. Ginny took her kids and Apparated, and Harry took the Marauders and _Lily. _Once they had arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry said hi to Tom, and told the others to go as quickly as they could to the brick wall that led to Diagon Alley as he tried to ignore the looks everyone was giving him.

Harry tapped some bricks on the wall, and they moved to show a lot of wizards and witches scattering hurriedly from one shop to another with big boxes and bags hovering to their sides in mid-air.

_Lily _smiled. Diagon Alley hadn't changed much since the last time she had been there, it was still full of shoppers and weird stuff. She was happy now that she would be able to buy things for everyone, specially to the Potters as a thank you for helping them and letting them stay at their home.; but suddenly she remembered. She didn't have much money with her! She only had 10 galleons, which she had had in her robes before travelling to the future. She would have to ask someone to lend her, but who would lend that much money to her?

There were two people she was absolutely sure would lend her. _James_ and Sirius. But it was still very embarrassing to ask them for money. How was she supposed to buy so many gifts. But wait! Taking _James'_ money would mean she was taking Harry's money too.

_Oh God, kill me now_, she thought as she turned two her second and most hated option: Sirius Black. He grinned at her as if he knew what she was about to ask.

"Should we go to Gringotts first?" Harry asked Ginny. She nodded, but Lily Luna, Albus and James Sirius started whining about going there.

"Ok, then. You go to... Flourish and Blotts along with Remus and _Lily, _and wait for us there." James Sirius made a disapproving sound but didn't comment. _Lily _was sure he wanted to sneak out to the _Prophet _as soon as his mother and father left.

_Lily _sighed, and before the others set off to the wizards bank, patted Sirius on the shoulder. He turned around and raised an eyebrow at her. James had turned around too, and was gazing between them.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Sirius smirked and nodded, leaving a very confused James in the middle of the street as he and _Lily _made their way somewhere quieter, which turned out to be Madam Malkin's.

"Black," _Lily _started.

"Evans," Sirius said in the same tone.

"Please! Stop playing. What I'm about to ask you is very important, and nobody must know."

Sirius gasped mockingly. "Lily, I would have never expected it from you to ask me-"

"-money." _Lily _finished for him, and his face turned from amused to confused. "I would never anything from you, and of course not money, but please, _please_ lend me some?"

Sirius looked at her awkwardly. "That's it? You want me to lend you some Galleons?"

_Lily _nodded looking at her feet, getting ready for his answer.

"Alright," He said and she looked up at him with a grateful expression on her face. "But!" _Oh no, this was too good to last,_ the red-head thought. "You have to buy James a present."

_Lily _blinked. "I was going to."

The answer took Sirius as a surprise, for he frowned and then smiled knowingly. "Ok... so... buy him something nice?"

"You got it."

"How much do you want?"

"I don't really know. Just give me what you think I will need."

And with that, _Lily _and Sirius parted in different ways. _Lily, _Remus and the Potter children went to Flourish and Blotts. Albus was the only one of the Potters that liked reading, so he and Remus picked up a book and sat by the other two to read it, while _Lily _walked over to the stands where the Hogwarts books normally were. There, she found _Hogwarts, a History, _and then went to buy the cooking book for Ginny. After that, she walked over to the biggest part in the store, which happened to be DADA, and looked for a book for Harry. She found a very interesting one called _The Mysteries of Patronuses _and as her eyes examined the other books, she saw a new title among them. It was _Modern DADA. _It caught her attention because of the writer. There, in golden letters under the name _Imelda Thornberry _(who was a third year back in her time), was written _Harry Potter (Introduction). _

She spotted an empty chair not far from there, picked the book, and walked over. She sat down and opened the book eager to read its contents.

_Introduction_

_by Harry James Potter_

Here _Lily _let out a sad sigh. Harry's middle name was James, another reminder that James had a son. She scolded herself for being stupid and thinking too much, and resumed her reading.

_The Dark Arts have always been around us, and they still are. They are not something that will ever disappear as long as there is someone that practices this kind of black magic. It has always been the concern of witches and wizards that people get to know how to defend themselves from any kind of dark curse, this is why, the class of DADA was created._

_As and Auror, I can say that I've battled enough ex-Death Eaters to affirm that it is necessary to know at least the basics of what is Defence Against the Dark Arts. During the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, which most remember as a very sad and happy moment – particularly for me – at the same time, it was shown that even the first years, with only a year of being trained in DADA, could help before Hogwarts was penetrated by Lord Voldemort's followers. Yes, it's true that they were evacuated, but still, knowing that we were fighting for those young boys and girls who had nothing to do in the war, but were still suffering the consequences, gave all of us courage and made even the most coward, brave._

_This book is parted in three: Basic, containing what DADA is, the difference between curse, hex and jinx, and other things; Intermediate, that explains how to defend from dark magical creatures such as boggarts, hinky punks, grindylows, etc; and Advanced, which includes the three Unforgivable Curses: Imperius, Cruciatus and the Killing Curse, how to fight a Dementor and more._

_I, myself, think that this is a must have if your ambition is to be an Auror, and Imelda has done a great job with this book._

_Enjoy the reading._

_Sincerely,_

_Harry Potter (Order of Merlin, First Class, Member of the Wizengamot, and Head Auror)_

_Lily _gaped at the book. First of all, what battle at Hogwarts? Second, according to the book, Voldemort must be... dead, and third... Harry had the Order of Merlin, First Class? She re-read the whole introduction stopping at some parts. _'Ex-Death Eaters', _did that mean that there were still followers going around? Or was that in the past? _Lily's _mind immediately flew towards a name: Snape. Severus Snape, who used to be her best friend. After the Mudblood incident, they hadn't made up, and it was rumoured that he had joined the young Death Eater gang that had started to get the Slytherins to join Voldemort and his Pure-blood cause. Was he one of the Ex-Death Eaters?

And what about the _'sad and happy moment'_. Deaths was the first thing that came to her mind, it was obvious that, that would be the sad part, and finally getting rid of Voldemort was the happy part... but Harry had added a _'particularly for me' _there. How much involved had he been in that war? He had an Order of Merlin, for Merlin's sake!

"Lily?"

_Lily _jumped about a foot in the air before her eyes settled on Sirius Black, who had just entered the book-store with _James_.

"W-What? Why are you creeping behind me?" She yelled, and Remus gave her a look that clearly said 'Could you please slow down your voice?' that shut her up.

"We were not creeping!" Sirius yelled back at her, and Remus glared at him too. Sirius huffed and ran a hand through his hair, which reminded her of _James_, who had stayed quiet by his side.

"Well, then. Why did you scare the living daylights out of me?"

"You had a very shocked and I'm-out-of-it, look on your face." _James _finally spoke.

_Lily _blushed. "Well, that's because I just found a very interesting book, which I'm going to buy." She said pointedly as Sirius grinned.

"I know, I know." He said and rolled his eyes. _Lily _stood up, picking the book for Remus, Harry, Ginny and her and followed Sirius to the cashier. Sirius paid for the books, and _Lily_ thanked him. _James _stared at them. Why was Sirius being so nice to _Lily? _And he had called her by her name too. He would normally say 'Evans' when speaking to or about her.

As they left the store with the Potters, Sirius passed _Lily _a small bag, which she took as, it was the money he was lending her. But when she took it, she almost let the bag hit the floor. It was bloody heavy!

"Black, how many Galleons are in here?"

Sirius grinned. "300."

Lily gaped at him. "Wait, WHAT? This much?"

"You told me to give you as much money as I thought you would need, and since I said to buy Prongs a 'nice' present, it must be expensive."

"Are you mad? Do you think I'll be able to pay for this?"

"No, that's why I'm giving you money to buy things for me as well."

_Lily _stared. "You want me to buy instead of you."

"Yep."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know what to buy, Black!"

"Stop it with the Black, Lily. Call me Sirius. Si-ri-us."

"Ok, Si-ri-us. What the hell do you want me to buy?"

"Here," He said and handed her a piece of parchment. "This is the list of things you'll buy."

"Ok," _Lily _murmured. "But remember Bl-Sirius. I'm doing it because I owe you. But don't expect me to be good to you because of this."

"I never expected more, Lily-flower."

_Lily _rolled her eyes. "Git."

Then, the ten people separated in groups. Sirius, Remus and Peter went to explore around; Lily Luna and Albus said they'll meet their friends at Florean Fortescue's Ice-cream Parlour; James Sirius and Harry went to Quality Quidditch Supplies and Ginny Apparated over to the _Prophet _to meet Lillian. The only ones left, were _Lily _and _James. _She asked him why hadn't he followed his friends or gone with Harry, he just replied he preferred to go with her since he had shopping to do too.

So, they started looking for things to buy. _Lily _said she needed to go somewhere to buy sweets, and _James, _always loyal, helped her find the place with the excuse of "I'm buying my grandchildren some candies too."

They saw a sign that read 'Honeydukes: Diagon Alley'.

"I thought Honeydukes was in Hogsmeade?"

"It seems they've built a shop here. Good thing, since Honeydukes' are the best."

They bought licorice wands, Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, and sugar quills, and left the sweetshop with two bags full of candies each. Once of _Lily's _bags contained what she was giving as a present and the other bag had all the sweets Sirius had asked for in his list.

"Why are you buying so much?"

"Actually," _Lily _said. "Only one bag is mine, the other is Sirius'. He's given me a list of things to buy for him today, the big git."

_James _stopped on his tracks. "What? He is making you go around with his stuff and you're letting him?"

"I owe him, so being his house-elf pays for the favour he did me."

"I'm having a chat with him as soon as I spot him alone. He is going to have to listen to _me."_

And _Lily _couldn't do anything else but smile, for he was being very sweet to her, and she liked it when he was protective of her. _Like that time in fifth year... _she thought, but shook that away, and instead focused on the raven-haired boy walking next to her.

Since the very 1st of September, he had been very friendly with her, and _friendly _was the key word. He hadn't asked her out once, and to say that it had shocked _Lily _would be the understatement of the year. _He's over me now, or so it seems, Lily_ thought to herself. But still, she wanted to know the reason.

As they walked looking for a joke's shop, _James_ insisted on carrying all the bags, and _Lily, _accepting his gallantry let him, but she couldn't hold her question anymore, she had to ask _in that moment_.

"Why are you being like this now?"

_James_ looked at her in the eyes. "What do you mean?"

_Lily _looked away from him, not being able to hold his stare. She was about to ask something she had wanted to know about for a while. Since term had started, actually; so she had to ask in a way that would get her an answer.

"You are being very nice and a real gentleman now. Why is that?"

"I don't kn-"

"You do know. You used to be a bully, James. You used to be a prat around me. Why did you change?"

_James _looked at her nervously and thought very well his words.

"I finally got the hint, Lily."

_Lily _didn't say anything. What was he talking about? What hint?

"What-?"

"You said you hated me, and would never go out with me. So I accepted that, and instead, tried to be friends with you."

"Are we really friends?"

The question hurt _James. _Was she seriously asking that now? He thought they were good friends, after helping each other in class, even passing notes and talking not only at the Heads meetings but in the free period, lunch and at night when they were in the Heads dorms. Had he really not succeeded on making friends with the girl of his dreams?

What he didn't know, was that _Lily _had asked not because she was asking for a confirmation, but she had blurted out her feelings of sadness. Her real question had been 'Are we really _just _friends?', but it sounded to suggestive, so she gave up on asking that, and instead said a somehow neutral one.

_James _nodded at her, and she felt her heart throb. Why was she feeling so bad about this? She already knew – or at least suspected – that he had moved on, but hearing it from his mouth was even more painful. She had to get used to the fact that _James _had son and wife in this future. It was inevitable.

"Alright, then. We're friends." They smiled sheepishly at each other, and without another word, entered the shop called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

**A/N: Five pages! Well, I know the ending was lame, but please bear with me! Don't abandon me, haha. Well, I know Lily's worries about James and his future, and her suffering might be a bit annoying too, but c'mon, I swear it'll be worth it, and by the way, I'm trying to make this a medium-length time-travel fic, which means it won't reach 20 chapters. Or so I think.**

**Well, thanks for reading, and please REVIEW!**


	9. Diagon Alley Pt2: The Perfect Present

**A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews. I read each of them, and try to improve as much as I can. This is chapter nine, and is the second part of "Diagon Alley". By the way, J.K. Rowling said that Ron was an Auror, and then that he worked with George at WWW, so I'm making him work in the shop now, I'll mention he used to be an Auror.**

**By the way, I'll dedicate the next chapter to my 100th reviewer!**

The store was full with laughter. There were groups of kids huddled over a large display, which had little papers with the words Nosebleed Nougat, Skiving Snackboxes and Ton-Tongue Toffees. There were a lot of boxes piled up to make a very tall animals such as spiders were hanging from the ceiling.

_Lily _heard _James _muttering "Amazing." and turned to grin at him. She knew how much _James_ loved anything that had to do with pranks. She was almost happy that Sirius wasn't there in that moment, for he would set off _James'_ mischief abilities and senses.

She gazed around, finally noticing some very suspicious-looking wizards were murmuring to each other in a rapid foreign language, and there were also five girls near a counter with bubbling, pink potions.

"This is Amortentia! The most powerful Love Potion in the world!"

"Why don't you buy it? You can put James under your spell!"

One of the girls, who had bushy, red hair huffed. "Don't talk about my cousin like that in my presence, please."

Her friends only giggled, and _Lily _recognized the girl. "Rose?"

Rose Weasley turned around and beamed at _Lily. _"Lily! I mean, Marie!" She said when she noticed the weird looks her friends were giving her. "Are you here with Uncle Harry and the others? Hey James!"

As she said _James' _name, the girls' heads turned sharply in all directions, searching for James Sirius, but when they saw the only boy around them was other than their James, they frowned and continued fretting over the Love Potions.

Rose took both their hands, and led them through the eager shoppers towards a door at the back which had a sign the read DADA ARTIFACTS. On the way, she grabbed Scorpius, who had been talking to some guys who looked Hogwarts-age, and threw him inside before she strode in with _Lily _and _James._

"Sorry for bringing you here, but I want you to meet my dad." She said politely. Scorpius' eyes widened, and he ran to the door, but before he could even open the it by himself, a red-headed, tall man with blue eyes did it. Ron Weasley had come in with his older brother George by his side. Fred was right behind his father, with a big smile on his face.

Scorpius cringed under Ron's glare and gulped. Rose rolled her eyes at her dad.

"Dad, you're scaring my boyfriend."

Ron snorted and turned to look _James _and_ Lily _instead. He stared at them for a while. _Lily _felt she and _James _were being studied or something. "So..." Ron said, speaking for the first time. "According to Harry you're James and Lily, right?"

They nodded. "Well, I'm Ron Weasley."

"Er – nice to meet you, Mr. Weasley."

Ron grimaced. "Mr. Weasley is my father. Call me Ron, everyone does."

"Only mum calls you 'Ronald'." Rose said and Ron flushed slightly.

"Ron, you're a git." said George as he smacked him on the back of the head. "You've got to introduce formally!"

He whirled around and stood before _Lily, _who almost jumped when he took her hand and brushed his lips against the back.

"Enchantée, Mademoiselle." And he grinned at her. _Lily _blushed at being treated with such... fake courtesy? "The name's George. George Weasley. Owner of this shop."

"You-you _own _thisshop?" _James_ asked disbelievingly. He was amazed and ecstatic to be able to meet the owner of such a complete Prankster Shop like this one.

"Yep!" George said and he stuck his hand out to greet _James. _He took the red-headed man's hand, and shook it with a dreamy expression on his face. "You must be James Potter, right? Harry's dad."

"Um... yeah."

George grinned at him. "I'm happy to announce that the Marauders were an inspiration for us! Prongs, Moony and Padfoot were the best pranksters Hogwarts has ever seen!"

_James_ grinned back vaguely. He had noticed two different things which surprised him. For one thing, George always talked about him as two people; he had said "an inspiration for _us',_ but who was he referring to? And secondly, why wasn't Wormtail mentioned? He had only said Sirius, Remus and himself were the best. What about Peter? Yes, he knew Pete wasn't as talented in prank-doing as they were, but that didn't mean that he didn't have his part in them.

George, oblivious to _James' _tension, said. "Come! I'll show you around the store.", grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him outside the room with a smirking Fred to his side.

_Lily _thought about going after them, but retreated as she saw them disappearing through the door. _James _deserved to have fun in this joke shop, and since she didn't know anything at all about that kind of stuff, then it would be better to stay out of his way. She waved at Rose, who was having a glare contest with her father (and Scorpius was behind her, frowning at them), and left to buy _James' _Christmas present. The first thing that came to her mind was Quidditch Quality Supplies, and there is where her feet took her.

The place was packed with boys and some girls outside the window, ogling at the new broom in display. _Lily _immediately recognized the look on their faces as the same expression _James _wore before each match Gryffindor played.

Smiling to herself as she remembered that, she made her way inside the place. There were tons of broomsticks and Quidditch balls scattered around. She spent a few minutes walking and thinking what to buy him. She was sure she didn't want to give him something ordinary, something he could find somewhere else, but she remembered she was in the future so anything she bought him would definitely be unique in their time. But still, this wasn't the kind of stuff she wanted to give _James._

"May I help you, miss?"

_Lily _turned to her right and found the smiling face of a blonde woman.

"Er – yes. I'm looking for a present for-"

"-your boyfriend." The woman finished for her. _Lily _blushed, and before she could contradict her, the blonde spoke again. "Don't worry, during this time of the year we have a lot of girls coming for a gift for their sweethearts. I'm Tori, by the way. Please follow me."

_Lily _followed suit, hoping that she would, maybe, find what she had been looking for. Tori led her towards a large stand where a bunch of eager-looking girls started jumping up and down. There were several different things in the stands, but what caught _Lily's _eye, was a small Christmas crystal ball. She picked it up, and noticed it was empty, the only things floating inside was fake snow twirling around, and a broomstick.

"Ah!" Tori gasped and _Lily, _who had forgotten she was there, jumped and looked at her. "That's very popular! You can put inside a miniature of your boyfriend and yourself riding a broomstick, you see. It's what makes it sooo romantic!"

_Lily _stared at the object and instantly loved it. It was perfect! It was something that she hadn't seen in the shop back in her time, which meant this was a new product.

"I'll take this." She said and Tori gave her a smile.

"Come here, please."

Tori led her to the cashier, she paid, and then walked out of the store. _Lily_ was happy that she had found such a great present and in the first place she entered. Now, the only thing she needed to do was put the small versions of her and _James_ on top of the tiny broomstick. _Good thing I'm specially good at Charms,_ she thought.

She closed her eyes, picturing herself and _James _flying in his Nimbus, and gently tapped the crystal ball with her wand. It glowed, and then she noticed two small dolls that represented them had appeared sitting on the broom. She smiled at the image.

But then, something registered in her brain. Wouldn't it be too... suggestive to put the both of them there? Tori had said 'your boyfriend' not 'your friend'. Would _James_ suspect something? So _Lily, _just to put clear that it was a friendly gift, tapped it again, and a sign that read FRIENDS materialized on the bottom of the ball.

Too cliché, but she didn't know what to do.

Sighing, _Lily _went to buy the other things Sirius had asked her.

"And this is out latest product!" George said excitedly. "It's called Rainbow Madness. It turns your skin red or yellow, or any colour of the rainbow. It's been a success lately."

"And what does that do?" James asked pointing to a bright pink toffee, his face glowing.

George grinned. "It turns you fluorescent! If you eat the pink one, then you'll be pink, but there are a range of different colours. Take some as a present from the future."

He grabbed a fistful, and put them inside a bag; then he gave it to James who hadn't been able to process the fact that he was been gifted with Prankster merchandise. He was speechless, staring at the sweets inside the bag, his Marauder instincts kicking in.

_A new prank won't do Hogwarts any bad, right?, _he thought, and smirked at George who was also grinning with a glint in his eyes.

"Oh look, here comes the lady!" George told _James _as a rather ruffled-looking _Lily _came inside the shop. She was carrying three heavy-looking bags and two boxes. As soon as _James_ spotted her, he broke into a sprint towards her and caught a box and two of the bags.

_Lily _gave him a grateful look, and he gave her a worried one.

"Are you ok, you look... terrible, to be honest."

_Lily _huffed angrily. "Well, I tripped twice on my way here and nearly broke my ankle. I'm going to send Sirius Black into the obscure depths of death."

"Me too." He said and chuckled. "So are this things all for him?"

_Lily _rolled her eyes and frowned. "Yes. He's a narcissist! He sent me to buy Sunflowers and Honey shampoo, and I went to three different stores searching for it, and didn't find it until I entered a fourth one. Why couldn't he specify the places where I was supposed to buy! And who asks for this kind of flowery shampoo anyway? Not even girls would like it, it's terribly sweet!"

_James _laughed. "Only Sirius, of course!"

"Yeah, only that git."

_James _smiled at her. "So, do you need anything else to buy?"

"Yes, I'm buying presents for Sirius and Peter here. Help me, please?"

"Alright, come with me. I'm sure George will recommend you some products."

As on cue, George appeared beside them. "Did I hear correctly? Mademoiselle Evans wants to buy Prankster stuff?"

"Well, it's not for me, you see. Is for the stupid bloke James calls a best friend and Peter."

George stiffened for a moment at the mention of Wormtail, luckily for him, _Lily _and _James _didn't notice this, and he tried to smile convincingly.

"Yes, they were here before, I saw them, but they left to the Leaky Cauldron to 'get a drink'."

_Lily _gasped. "They can't go and 'get a drink'! They were supposed to wait for us here, now that I think about it!"

"Yeah well, leave them be. They won't do anything _too_ rash." _James_ said. She gave him a sceptical look and he corrected himself. "Ok, Remus _won't let_ them do anything rash and reckless."

"You know they hardly ever listen to him, he's been trying to-"

"OK! We're heading towards the most amazing part, to provide you with my latest inventions!" George said cutting _Lily _mid-sentence. She glared at him for a second before following him towards a display with _James _at her side.

Half an hour later, they both joined Sirius, Remus and Peter, and after yelling and hitting at the first, they set off back to Flourish & Blotts where they would be meeting the Potters again. As soon as they arrived to the book store, _James_ excused himself and ran off into the still crowded alley. He back ten minutes later, apparently not having bought anything, and started to talk with the Marauders about the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"They have this toffee that enlarges your tongue!"

"Fred told me his dad was trying to create a sweet that could erase someone's memory of the last twenty minutes!"

"George gave me some sweets for free!"

"Are you serious?"

"No, you are."

Remus huffed. "Again with that stupid pun."

"It's not stupid!"

"You're right, you are the stupid one."

"That's ri- Oi!"

Lily sat in silence watching them interact, sometimes laughing at their jokes. After a while, they could see James Sirius laughing in the distance, being followed lazily by his younger brother and sister, who was talking with their father. Ginny was checking the time in her clock.

They saw each other, and after a few "Did everything go well today?" and "What did you do?" they discovered that James had effectively evaded his father, and had set off to the Prophet's Office.

"He shouldn't have gone there!" Ginny had said. "Lillian wanted to speak to me, not you!" and with that James Sirius had disappeared into his bedroom without meal.

_Lily _would havestarted to feel really comfortable being in the Potters' if not for Harry's staring. It still intrigued her the way he looked at her, with such... tenderness and love and affection... it was overwhelming. She couldn't help but make theories to why this happened, like, she might be very close to him in this future, or that he hadn't seen her in a long time (he did say she was on a mission in Italy).

She also found out that _James _didn't stare at her as much anymore, for he had no reason to, anyway. Normally they were in sync, at the same they turned their heads in the other's direction and they would smile.

After the delicious meal they had, everyone was off to bed. _James _gave _Lily _a peck on the cheek and said good-night before she could realize it, and saw him give Sirius a disgusted look that made _Lily _smile evilly. _Sirius Black is about to get shouted at for treating me like a house-elf,_ she thought.

"Are you going to sleep now, Lily?" Lily Luna asked.

"No, I think I'll read for a bit."

"Oh, ok."

She changed into her pyjamas and picked up the interesting book on modern DADA she had bought. She skipped through the pages, stopping once in a while to read about some jinxes and counter-jinxes, when she finally reached the part she wanted to read. It was the Advanced section of the book, where the Unforgivable courses were explained.

_Cruciatus Curse_

_This curse causes the victim an intolerable pain. It can drive the receiver of the curse mad. It was popular between the Death Eaters to torture Muggles and members of the Order of the Phoenix using this spell. It is conjured by saying the word _Crucio _(KROO-see-oh)_, _which means torment in Latin. Famous casters of this curse: Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, Bartemius Crouch Jr._

At this, _Lily _gasped. It had been used on people from the Order of the Phoenix. Could someone she knew had been victim of this? And then there were the Muggles. How could they be so cruel so as to torture innocents? And that Crouch boy, he was Bartemius Crouch's son, and his father worked on the Ministry!

_Imperius Curse_

_This causes the victim to do as the caster says. It takes control over the body and the will. It was also quite known to have been used during the Second Wizarding War. Many Ministry employees were said to be under the Imperius Curse to support Voldemort (previously He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who) or commit murders and tortures. It is conjured by the word _Imperio _(Im-PAIR-ee-oh) which is the Latin form of 'command'._

The Imperius Curse. It wasn't very used in her time... yet. She glared at the book, and then prepared herself to look at the last curse.

_Killing Curse_

_Also known as_ Avada Kedavra_ (which is what it is said to cast it and means 'to be destroyed'), this curse causes the death of the victim. It's characterized for the green light that comes out of the wand. It's unblockable and has no counter-curse. Only one person has survived this curse..._

_Lily _dropped the book with wide eyes.

"Are you ok?" Lily Luna emerged from her bed when she heard the _thud _the book had made when it fell.

"Y-Yes, don't worry."

Lily Luna gave her a curious look, but eventually went back to sleep. _Lily _was sure she hadn't read right. The Killing Curse couldn't be blocked as the book said, then how come the paragraph ended with:

_And that person is Harry Potter._

**A/N: Ok, so... took me long enough, right? Hahaha, sorry. Well, you see, I'm going to San Francisco on Tuesday, so I've been getting all the papers ready, and today I packed, but! I'm happy that I finished this before I reached 100 REVIEWS! Well, the next chapter is for the 100th reviewer. Next chapter: Christmas Eve and a surprise related to it!**

**Please REVIEW! And Thanks for reading.**


	10. Christmas Eve

**A/N: Sorry for the delay, but as I think I said last chapter, I was in San Francisco and couldn't write much while I was there. This chapter is dedicated to Silk399 who was the 100th reviewer! Hope you like it. Enjoy!**

_Lily _knew a lot of people were coming to the Potters for Christmas Eve, but she was definitely not expecting over a hundred people to arrive.

Earlier, that morning, she had been woken up by a bouncing Lily Luna who kept chanting about a party that was being held up there. _Lily _had jumped so high in the air that she fell out of her bed. She didn't have anything to wear for this party! Why didn't they tell her about this the day before, when they were in Diagon Alley? And it was while she panicked, that her salvation appeared in the form of one Ginny Potter, holding out a beautiful gold dress.

"I wore it for my oldest brother Bill's wedding." she had said giving_ Lily_ a heart-warming smile. "I think it will fit you."

So here she was now, standing in the middle of the bedroom she shared with her granddaughter (even though she was unaware of this fact), wearing the golden dress, high heels, and make-up, which had been forced upon by Lily Luna and Rose. Both of them had their dressing robes on as well. Lily Luna's was sky-blue, and Rose's was marine blue. The three red-heads had shoved the guys away from the room as soon as Rose made her appearance at four in the afternoon. Several charms had been placed outside so that they would know if someone who was male was approaching.

Ginny had joined them them an hour later, and she was now styling her hair in a bun with soft curls gracing her face. Her dress was lilac, and she too was wearing stilettos.

"You look beautiful, Mum!" Lily Luna said as she watched her mother model to herself in front of the mirror. "I'm sure Dad will love the dress."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Your dad is always oblivious to anything I wear. He seems to never notice; not even the colour!"

"Well," Rose said sighing. "Mum told me Dad used to be like that too."

"Ron's always been clueless." laughed her aunt.

Just then, a knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Rose stood up and opened it after making sure it wasn't a guy. A brunette woman who looked a lot like Rose's brother, Hugo and Rose herself stepped inside with a big grin on her face.

"Hermione!" Ginny said and she hugged her best friend.

"Ginny! I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier, it's just that work-"

"Forget your bloody work now!"

Hermione chuckled and her eyes fell on Lily who was staring at her. "Is this...?" Ginny nodded slowly, and then Hermione smiled at _Lily_.

"You must be Lily Evans." _Lily _nodded. "I'm Hermione Weasley, Rose and Hugo's mother."

"Nice to meet you, you look very like your daughter."

"Oh yes! Although she has her father's hair." Hermione said as Ginny sat her down to start putting make-up on her. "Ginny, why do we keep doing this every Christmas? We're not teenagers anymore, we have kids and-"

"Shush. We're teens at heart." Ginny said giving her best friend a dry look that shut her up almost immediately.

_Lily_ smiled at seeing them interact. It was just the same way their daughters, Lily Luna and Rose, did. It was nice to see such a great family together, she would have wanted to be like that with Petunia, but unfortunately, she couldn't stand magic or anything of the sort.

Seeing as there was nothing else she could do but wait till it was nine o'clock, her thoughts drifted towards last night... the book she had bought at Flourish & Blotts, Modern DADA, and Harry Potter. She wasn't sure why, but she felt a profound sadness at reading about the Boy-Who-Lived as she discovered they called him. What does it mean?

* * *

Meanwhile, in the boys' changing room, James Sirius and Albus were arguing again.

"James, you should really stop going after Lillian, she will never set her eyes on you!"

"Can you stop fighting, please?" Hugo said looking back and forward between them.

"How the hell are you so freaking sure, Al?" James ignored Hugo. "We have as an example gr-" but before he could finish, Albus' hand shot up, and set itself upon James' mouth successfully stopping him from revealing the truth.

"Yes, well... you're right. Keep pestering her, then." And with that he turned to look at himself in the mirror, fixing his tie. Hugo's eyes had widened so much that it seemed as if they were going to fall of their sockets.

The Marauders, who had been strangely quiet during their whole bickering, looked at each other. They had been expecting them to spill something related to their future, but it seemed like they would never say a thing about it in front of them. Sirius and _James _had discussed it the night before, after _James_ had reprimanded him for the way he had treated _Lily_. There was something fishy about the whole story they had told them. Why was it that they weren't back for Christmas? They thought their older selves would have come back by now, but it seemed like they were still on the mission.

Then there was the fact that _James'_ wife hadn't been mentioned at all. When the Potter children talked about a certain 'grandma', they always talked about Mrs. Weasley; they said she was in the burrow preparing the meal along with the house-elves.

And to top it off, that Teddy bloke that kept coming in and out of the room every once in a while, kept staring at Remus, just the same way they had discovered Harry looking at _Lily_.

And speaking of the devil, Teddy entered the changing room, his navy-blue dress robes swishing behind him. He had changed his hair to a soft brown for the occasion, and was looking a lot like his father, who sat in a chair in the back of the room, silently reading a Muggle book, completely oblivious of this.

"Everything's ready, Harry and Ron should be coming again to call you in a minute." and with that, he left, but not before he almost tripped on his way out the door.

When Harry and Ron called them to go down a few minutes later, the Marauders marched down the stairs with their identical ink-black robes to a newly-decorated tent in the 'Quidditch pitch'. The canvas of the tent were purely white, with some sparkling dust on it. The top was high, which meant the Christmas tree was inside.

"Wow," Sirius breathed out as soon as he stepped inside. "This is amazing, mate. Almost like Hogwarts." And it was just as beautiful. Everything was white and sparkly, but there were also the traditional red and green decorations. There was about eighty people already there, but even with that amount of people, the tent didn't look much full. They sat in the table one of the butlers – hired only for the occasion – signed them, and waited for the girls to make their entrance. Scorpius, who hadn't been with them in the changing room suddenly appeared dragging a tall blonde boy with a dreamy expression on his face.

"Hey," He said as he sat down, followed by the other blonde. "This is Lorcan Scamander," he said to the Marauders, and they all nodded at the boy, who tilted his head to the side and smiled. "And that one over there, is Lysander, his twin brother." He pointed to the copy of Lorcan who was drinking some butterbeer near the fountain.

Something stirred in _James' _mind. "Isn't that Lily Luna's boyfriend?"

James Sirius and Albus grimaced.

"The very same." Scorpius smirked at the Potter siblings, who only shivered when he spoke.

Sirius noticed the boys' attitude. "Why are you grimacing? You should be happy! It's Christmas for G-" but he stopped mid-sentence when the tent was open to let five people in. _James _and Scorpius stood up with their jaws hanging low.

_Lily _and Rose looked beautiful with their clothes, they noticed that they had also applied some make-up, which wasn't exactly normal on them.

"You look amazing." _James _breathed out. _Lily _tried not to blush as she sat next to him and started fidgeting with the hem of her dress, and then with the small purse she was carrying. Although she was blonde now, with blue eyes, she still had the same factions and soft features.

Two huge sighs were heard, and everyone turned to see Harry and Ron staring at their wives with big grins.

Ginny and Hermione, who were trying not to laugh, gave each other a furtive glance and smiled holding their laughter in. They had succeeded, their husbands had immediately noticed them.

"Have I told you who the most beautiful woman is?" Harry murmured in Ginny's ear; she rolled her eyes.

"You're such a bad romantic, Harry. That line's been more used than Ron's socks."

"Oi," Ron said. He was hugging Hermione too. "Watch it!"

Harry and Ron took their wives away, and left the kids alone. Scorpius took Rose's hand, and she blushed. Soon after, they were gone into the dance floor, where they got lost in between the dancers.

Lily Luna smiled at Lorcan. "Hello Lorcan, where is Lysander?"

"Last time I saw him he was by the fountain." Lily Luna nodded and was about to leave when Lorcan called her back. "Take care, Lily. There are some Nargles around the mistletoes outside." and with that rather bizarre warning Lily Luna left.

"How can she differ between them if they are twins?" Remus asked.

"We don't really know." Albus replied. "But she is the only one who can."

James Sirius shrugged backing up his brother. "It's always been like that."

"What do you mean?" Peter inquired.

"Well, Dad, Mum, Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron have known their mum since Dad's fifth year. She was part of the DA."

"What's the DA?"

Al's eyes grew big and quickly told his brother. "Jay, I heard Lillian was coming, why don't you go and look for her?"

James Sirius jumped grinning madly. "Really? Thanks little bro! Bye!"

"I should probably also leave." Albus said as he stood up. "Have fun!"

"Oh, we will." Sirius said with a mischievous smirk.

_Lily_ gave him a stern look. "Don't go around... _marauding, _alright? They were kind enough to invite us to the party, they could have left us inside the house, away from this amazing-"

"We get it, Evans!" Sirius exclaimed in exasperation. "But we're Marauders! We have to do a little prank at least."

"Can I help with that?" Fred Weasley asked as he took James Sirius' empty seat. He was grinning. "I've got some Dungbombs back in James' room, we have them stored there for this kind of occasion." He smirked and added under his breath. "We also have firewhiskey somewhere, just ask for it, and it will be provided."

Sirius' smile could have lit a whole city. "Mate, you got it." And they started planning a way to take the Dungbombs out without being noticed.

"Would you like to dance with me, Lily?" _James _asked her quietly.

"Uh..." _Lily _wasn't keen on dancing. She wasn't too bad, but she didn't really like it. "I'm not very good at dancing."

"Oh, then, do you want to walk outside?"

_Lily's _eyes brightened and she nodded. _James _held his arm out for her to take it, and they headed outside. The fresh, cold air hit them, and they both inhaled deeply. _Lily _shivered, and _James _noticed this. Without a word, he took off coat, and placed it gently on top of_ Lily's_ shoulders. She jumped when she felt it grace her body, and instantly warmed up; it also helped that it smelled just like _James._

"Thank you," she muttered. "But, aren't you cold too?"

"Nah," _James _shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

"Why didn't you stay to plan the prank with Sirius? It's kind of weird that you didn't."

"Well," he started. "Let's just say, I had other plans for tonight. I, of course, was tempted to stay, but I'm sure Sirius will plan something for me to do as well."

_Lily _stared at him. "You've really matured."

He showed her his white teeth. "I'm seventeen, Lily. I was not going to keep being my fifteen-year-old self. I realized, after Voldemort's rising, that people are fighting _and _dying out there, because of their beliefs. Whether you are part of the good guys, or are a Death Eater, it still means war."

_Lily _remembered what she had read in the book again, about Harry and felt the sudden urge to hug _James _and tell him everything that was going to happen to his son; but something held her back. She couldn't say without more information. There were some holes in the story the book told, like the reasons that had led to Voldemort's desire of killing Harry, the reason why Harry had survived the killing curse...

"You've matured too." _James _said capturing her attention once more. "You used to yell at me before even knowing the complete facts."

"Are you saying that most of our fights were my fault?" she asked faking offence.

_James' _eyes widened. "No, no – Lily, I – I,"

"Merlin's pants! I was _kidding, _James!" she said as she laughed.

He just stared at her as she kept making fun of him. Why couldn't he stop loving her? He had been doing his best; trying to see her as a friend, talking to her about things he would talk to Sirius about, but it wasn't the same. If only three years ago he had been told that Lily Evans would be wearing his coat on Christmas night, while both of them held a conversation, he would have laughed in that person's face. Even though he liked her then, he too, thought it was impossible for them to bond and create a friendship.

They had reached a bench near a bush and some roses, they sat down. _Lily _was still giggling, which made _James _smile lovingly at her.

"I love your laugh." he said. _Lily _stopped at once, and fixed her eyes on _James. _Green met hazel, and for a long moment they just looked at each other. "Y'know, I love Christmas?"

"I didn't know that. Why is that?" _Lily _asked curiously.

"It reminds me of you." He said, and his eyes drifted towards her hair. "You red hair, just like Santa Claus' costume... and your eyes..." His eyes met hers again. She melted into his gaze. "Green as the Christmas tree. Christmas is you."

_Lily _blushed and looked away. She knew it was time to give him her present. The conversation had taken a turn she didn't want to, and she needed to remind _James _that they were friends now. She opened her purse, and gently took out the box containing his present. She took his hand, and placed it there.

"It's your Christmas present." she said when he gave her a questioning look. "I hope you like it."

_James _smiled as if saying 'of course I will', and with an eager expression opened it. His grin dropped very slightly at the sight of the crystal ball as he read the word _Lily _had carved.

FRIENDS.

He hugged her then, and murmured a "Thank you, I love it." in her ear. She blushed again. How many times had she blushed in just two hours? She gazed at _James'_ watch, and saw that there were still two hours more till midnight, when the party was ending.

She felt a warm hand squeeze hers, and she looked up to see _James _staring at something above their heads. She followed his eyes and gasped.

She had been expecting mistletoe (not that she wanted to kiss him, of course... not...), but it wasn't that. It was a man with entirely black robes in a broomstick. He pointed his wand to his throat, opened his mouth, and shouted only a word.

"POTTER!"

**A/N: Okay, so I hope you liked this chapter ('cause I really did) :D. I guess you didn't expect something to like this to happen, right? Actually I _was _going to write them kissing, but in the end, I thought it was just too cliché, so it ended up with this mysterious guy's appearance.**

**Please REVIEW!**


	11. Under the Moonlight

**A/N: My condolences to everyone living in Japan. Actually, here, in Peru, we have a very close relationship with the Japanese, and I love their culture. I hope everything starts getting better even if it's little by little (I know this was a long time ago, but I wanted to show my respect :D) Hope you like the chapter, and please review!**

As soon as the only word was shouted with incredible volume, the music, laughing and talking inside the tent ceased until it became deadly silent. Some people outside took the people they had gone with and Disapparated.

_James _and _Lily, _not knowing what to do or say stood rooted where they were; frozen with shock. Suddenly, they saw Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny coming out; James Sirius came next, surprisingly, holding Lillian's hand. She looked extremely nervous, as Albus followed closely behind her with Lysander, Lorcan, Lily and Hugo.

The man in the broom hadn't moved. He was suspended in the air, as if waiting for something; and when Harry approached him, alone, he made no sign of trying to harm anyone. Harry gave his parents a look that was meant to say 'stay there', and slowly made his way right in front of the cloaked man.

"Draco," Harry said. "Should you make such an entrance?"

Everyone but the trio shifted relieved at this statement. The man on the broom – Draco – lifted his hands to his hood and lowered it to reveal a copy of Scorpius, only much older. He had a pointed face, and blonde hair, and had the face of someone you wouldn't want to get on their bad side.

Draco nodded at Harry and descended from his broomstick.

"Father? What are you doing here?" Scorpius had also left the tent and was now looking at his father with a strange expression.

"I have business here, son." Draco said softly, and then turned to Harry. "Potter, I've been informed that there has been an attack, and they, of course, want you on this mission with Weasley."

Ron nodded at this. "Thank you for telling us, Malfoy."

"It's part of my job, isn't it?" He shrugged. "Now, I guess we should get going." and with that he mounted his broom, and flew away at amazing speed.

Harry kissed Ginny, whispered something in her ear (to which she nodded) and said goodbye to his kids, while Ron did the same with Hermione, and they both turned on the spot, and Disapparated.

The guests started to Disapparate as well, although they didn't seem scared. James Sirius saw from the corner of his eye as Lillian gave him a glance before taking her parents' hands, and Disapparating as well.

"Kids," Ginny said as she talked to all the children, the Marauders and _Lily. _"Hermione and I are staying here with you. We're tired, so we'll go and sleep. James, could you please give your room to your Aunt for tonight?"

James Sirius huffed. "Why, Mum?"

"Really, Gin," Hermione said with a rather alarmed look on her face. "I can sleep on a tend or-"

"Nonsense." Ginny said scoffing. "He's got to learn to share with his family."

"But, Mum-" Whatever James Sirius was about to say was caught on his throat. A sly grin suddenly appeared on his face. Everyone's eyes widened. Anything that made James smiled like that was bad, _very bad._ "I've got an idea! We can all have a slumber party!"

Sirius and _James _burst out laughing. "That sounded very girlie." The latter said.

James Sirius blushed. "Y-Yes well, I couldn't find another word for it, OK?"

"That doesn't seem bad, actually." Albus said. "It's a very good idea." He shot his older brother an incredulous look. "Who did you stole it from?"

"I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"Why in the name of Merlin's bollo-"

"Don't finish that sentence, you!" Ginny snapped, and her son grew silent immediately. "About the 'slumber party', you've got my permission, and my word that I won't interfere in it."

"Thanks Mum!"

Then Ginny turned to Teddy. "You must be leaving as well, Ted. Harry will need as much people as he can get."

Teddy nodded, and with a pointed look at Remus, he left.

After that. Ginny and Hermione secluded themselves in their respective bedrooms, and as Ginny promised, the kids made space in the living room, and put up their tents. The Marauders looked extremely excited at the prospect of doing this, according to Remus, it was tradition to do this every year, but they hadn't had the time to do so that year because everyone was busy.

_Lily _revealed that she also loved this kind of activities when she, Lily Luna and Rose, huddled together and started to make the list of the things they would do for the night. James kept stealing glances at the back of _Lily's _head, thinking about her present, which was upstairs, securely kept in the drawer he had been given. He wasn't sure if _Lily_ would like it, maybe it would have a different meaning for her than for him, but he was still going to give it to her.

The girls chatted for a bit, and played Exploding Snap while the boys watched Scorpius and Hugo play Wizard Chess.

"Hugo is holding back, he's an amazing Chess player. Look at his face, he's cracking up on the inside." said Rose with a knowing look on her face. _Lily_ turned her head to see Hugo with a poker face, and then frowned amusedly at Rose.

"How do you know that?"

It was _James_ who answered. "You learn this kind of stuff after living for a long time with the person." and Rose nodded.

"Again," _Lily_ said. "How do you know that?"

_James_ smirked, nodding towards Sirius. "This idiot over here."

"Hey!" Sirius yelped. "That hurt."

_Lily_ rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh, yeah right."

"Lily-flower! How can you be so horrible to poor old Paddy?"

"Poor old what? And don't call me that!"

"Shut it you three." Remus said as he yawned. "I'm tired, let's sleep."

And so they did. The girls entered their tent (which was a horrible shade of pink, and Lily Luna said it was Dominique's), and fell asleep instantly; the boys chatted for a bit inside their own tent and a few minutes later, the loud snores coming from Sirius were heard.

Remus rested his head on the pillow, just about to close his eyes and fall into a peaceful sleep... he closed them...

Pop!

Remus' eyes flew open at once, all need of sleep gone. Sirius was still snoring, and both_ James_ and James Sirius were hugging their pillows tightly and muttering in their sleep. Peter, Scorpius and Albus, slept noiselessly.

Remus jolted out of bed, and taking his wand with him, he made his way through his friends' bodies, and out of the tent. The living-room was dark, and Remus almost tripped over one of Peter's shoes that was left randomly on the carpet. The only thing that glowed was the moonlight that went through the window. Remus tip-toed over to it, and glanced outside to see the half-moon brighter that he had ever seen it before.

But the moon wasn't the only thing that kept Remus' eyes outside. There was a wolf Patronus circling a man with turquoise hair on the garden. He didn't know why, but he walked to the door, opened it, and stepped on the grass. The man hadn't seen him yet, so he kept his steps steady and approached him.

Teddy turned to face his father with the face of an old man. He looked tired, and he knew that his face was showing just that. His Patronus disappeared. He had changed his hair back to his favourite colour in hope of cheering up, but it seemed like there was nothing that would.

_Nothing but... my dad..., _he thought as he watched Remus recognize him.

"Hello," Teddy said trying to sound normal. "What are you doing up at this time?"

Remus, uncertain of what to do, smiled. "I heard you Apparating outside, and I wanted to know who was it."

Teddy gave him a slight grin, and turned his gaze to the moon. It would be a full moon in a few days, and he was sure – because of his researching – that Remus would be changing into a werewolf, and both of them would have to be secluded. He did get cranky and annoying during that phase of the moon, and he didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable.

He stole a glance at Remus, and saw that he, too, was staring at the satellite.

"Don't worry about your condition." Teddy murmured. Remus turned sharply to stare at him with wide eyes. How did he know?

"How d-?"

"I..." Teddy sighed deeply. "I know your future self." Saying those words cut his heart in pieces. _If only you knew that I would love to have you and Mum here..._

"Oh." was Remus' only response.

"You are an amazing person." Ted chuckled. "I'll confide you something from... _your _future, but you have to promise you won't tell."

"I promise." Remus said at once, anxious to know what he was going to tell him.

And Teddy believed him. "Alright, so... you were a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry's time at school."

"Was I really?" Remus asked surprised. "They didn't mind my being a werewolf?"

"Oh, the students didn't, well, the Slytherins did, but never mind them." Teddy said. It was true Slytherins were far better than they were back then, but they hadn't completely forgotten the pure-blood status thing.

Remus smiled to himself. He had been a teacher!

"By the way, about your 'furry little problem'..."

Remus turned abruptly to face Teddy with wide eyes. How did he...? Only the Marauders knew that! "H-How-?"

Teddy smiled mysteriously. "I know you, remember? The _whole _lot of you." _I hope I knew you..._, he thought. "Anyway, you will transform in three days, so we will transfer you somewhere. Would you like the Marauders to keep you company? Yes, I know they're Animagi." he added after seeing his father's astonished face.

"I-If they want to."

"I'm sure they will. Now, why don't we go inside, it's getting cold in here, and I think it might snow in a few minutes."

They hurried to the house, said goodbye to each other, and went to sleep; Teddy both happy and sad to have had a conversation with his dad, and Remus confused by the revelation that Teddy knew so many of the Marauders' secret.

It wasn't until two hours later, that a very sleepy _James_ Potter woke up to go to the loo. On his way back to his tent, he collided with something; something with a lot of red-hair, and green eyes. _Lily_ had woken up to the bathroom too.

The shriek she let out after crashing into _James_, made him clamp his hand on her mouth, to which she responded by frowning and trying to slap him on the cheek.

"Evan-Lily, Lily! It's me! Shut it, you'll wake everyone up." He whispered frantically and _Lily_ finally stopped fighting. _James_ let go of her as soon as she was done struggling.

"James!" she whispered back. She looked at him furiously for a second, before she dragged him not so gently inside the first room she found..

"Bloody ow, Lily! That hurt." _James_ winced when _Lily_ glared at him.

"What were you doing surprising me like that?"

"I was on my way back from the toilet!" _James _said. "I didn't see you of course, because it's dark!"

_Lily_ huffed. "Right." and she turned away from him to look around the room. It was like a deposit, it had a lot of stuff piled up on boxes of different sizes, and a few random things were left on the shelves. _Lily_, who was still shaken up because of the shock _James_ had given her, crossed her arms and peeked inside a box silently.

_James_ made a mental note to never surprise and scare her like that, it got her in a terrible mood, and he didn't fancy her being upset. It was the first time she had yelled at him since the start of seventh year, and he had to admit, he kind of missed their bickering. It was part of who they were, and even if they were friends, they still had disagreements. It had made him extremely happy that she had warmed up to him, but it seemed a little different to be friendly all the time; it was time she cracked up. He had been expecting it.

He watched as she opened the some of the boxes cautiously, and stole a glance inside, there were times when she would take out a thing, and gasp at it, looking around it. She put the object she had been admiring back in its place, and turned to look at the other person in the room.

"Sorry for snapping at you." she apologized quietly.

James gave her a smirk. "You were being yourself, Lily. It's been long since you've yelled at me like that."

"Yes, well..."

"Don't get your knickers in a twist." He said with a move of his hand, and heard when Lily coughed loudly. His eyes widened when he realized the ambiguity of that phrase. "I didn't mean it like th-"

"I know, I'm just teasing you." She was grinning. James' insides melted as he saw her smile, it was gorgeous, he loved to see her happy, and if he was the cause, then he was even happier.

"So... found anything interesting?"

"Oh, yes," she nodded. "They were in that box, the one with 'James' written all over it – I guess it's James Sirius'. It seemed to be full of prankster stuff."

James' eyes brightened and she lifted the box, and pushed it out of his reach.

"Uh-uh, it's not _yours_, James."

"It's not yours either, y'know." He pouted. "And it says 'James'."

"Whatever." she rolled her eyes smiling, and James started to take thing after thing from the box. Lily saw another box, this one had the name 'Harry' written on it. Curiosity burned inside her, and she took the steps towards it. She opened it and gasped at the first thing lying inside.

It was a photograph. The four Marauders and her were smiling at the camera. They had their graduation gowns, and were throwing their hats in the air as they laughed. Remus and Peter were waving, and the people on the background were cheering. She saw herself give James a kiss on the lcheek and then turned to share a smile with Sirius.

She had kissed James!

And he had smirked at her!

"Lily, I reckon we should go back to sleep."

Lily tore her eyes from the photograph, and before James saw it, she put it back inside with the rest of Harry's belongings. She followed him to the living room, and after saying goodbye, she entered the girls' tent.

Morning found Lily curled up under her sheets, she hadn't been able to sleep. The image of her kissing James kept coming back to her. Why had she kissed him?

**A/N: So... I had to put a little James/Lily bickering scene. Lately I've felt that they were too mushy for my opinion, and in my case, I do tease my friends a little bit (a lot). Happy reading and happy Holy Week and Easter!**


	12. Bonding

**A/N: Ok, so I think apologies are in the way... I'M SO SORRY! The truth is I had writer's block, but that isn't the main reason, and school had nothing to do with it...it's just... a friend got me obsessed with Percy Jackson! And so, I've been reading the _Percy Jackson and the Olympians _books, and kind of forgot about Harry Potter, until of course, the movie brought me back here. Thanks for everyone who reviewed, you made my day!**

**So, my thoughts about the movie:**

**I'd give it an 8 out of 10, I mean, yes, it was great, but it wasn't _that _great. I expected more of it. There were a lot of things that could have been better like Voldemort's and Bellatrix's death (they just disintegrated!), they didn't show Fred's death, Hermione and Ron's kiss was like random, because there was no motivation whatsoever, and Harry. was. not. There!**

**My two favourite scenes (Snape's memories and the Epilogue) left me wanting more, they did not satisfy me, they didn't make these scenes justice.**

**As for the 'Oh my God!' moments like when Voldemort hugged Draco (I was like 'WTF?' as everyone in the cinema), Neville saying he was crazy for Luna (They never got together, _period._), and Harry and Dumbledore at 'King's Cross', well, let's just say they were not what I expected.**

**Other that that, the movie was great: the dragon scene at Gringotts, some of the fighting scenes (except for Mrs. Weasley's) and McGonagall with her now famous line "I always wanted to use that spell!" were amazing. The special effects kept me hanging on my seat (and they were even better as I saw it in 3D).**

**This just leaves me to thank J.K. Rowling for giving us this story, and the actors, producers and directors for giving us the live-action versions. I'll never forget they made these last 10 years the best of my life!**

**And... I GOT INTO POTTERMORE! Yay! Add me, I'm Seekerspell168! I'm a Gryffindor, which kind of disappointed me as I thought I was sure to be a Slytherin, but well, I guess that's how Jo sees me, so ok :D**

**Now, that was a big Author's note... whatever, here's chapter 12!**

_James_ hadn't slept at all when dawn found him sitting at the kitchen's table. His eyes were droopy, and the bags under his eyes did not help at all. He wished he knew what was going through _Lily's_ head, he wished he could be with her, by her side...

Through the last four years, he had loved one and only girl, but it seemed that _Lily_ did not believe him... or didn't _want_ to believe him. He had tried telling her in all ways possible, even when those ways annoyed her, but she wouldn't accept the fact that he was irrevocably in love with her.

How to make her understand?

It was while holding this thought that Harry found James when he came downstairs for a glass of water. Harry guessed the mood _James_ was in had to do with the fact that he may be anxiously awaiting their return to the past, but when he heard his father murmur the word "_Lily.._.", he remembered _James_ and _Lily_ weren't together yet, and that's what maybe caused him distress.

_James_ finally noticed Harry standing in the stairs and gave him a small, tired smile. Harry pretended to not have noticed this and gave him an uncomfortable grin.

"It's early, I didn't think of you as a morning person."

"I'm not." _James_ replied, sighing. "But I couldn't sleep at all."

"Do you want something to drink?"

"Coffee would be _very_ nice."

Silence rang between them as Harry walked towards the kitchen and served the coffee to then pour himself some water. James sipped from his mug while Harry observed him from the corner of his eye, turning every time James stole a glance at him.

He felt ridiculous for doing this, but he had to admit that being this close to _James_ made him feel nervous. What if he did something _James_ didn't approve of? Harry barely shook his head. He was being stupid. He was several years older than his teenage father to his side, and he still worried over such a thing. However, as if he actually had never heard much come from his father before, he even picked up small things, like the way _James _furrowed his eyebrows every time he took a sip of coffee and that every few minutes he would look outside and smile.

Harry wondered what _James_ thought of when he looked outside, but as if chanced a look out the window, he suddenly remembered something both of them enjoyed and would be happy by having this weather.

"Are you up for a Quidditch match?" Harry asked when _James _had finished.

"Of course."

The weather was chilly outside: the wind was soft as it went and the sun rested in between a few clouds. This were perfect Quidditch conditions. Harry wasn't very fond of playing chaser; he was a fan of speed, and as such, didn't exactly like this position. _James_, who played both seeker and chaser, felt comfortable both with the tiny Golden Snitch and the red Quaffle, however, as they were only one against one, they had to take turns to play keeper and chaser.

James was in position of the ball now, and Harry saw in his father's eyes the same glint he himself had every time he mounted a broom; it was that amazing feeling of freedom that kept him going even when the stress of being the Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One, and Head of Aurors tried to hold him down.

_James_ zoomed from one side to another as he tried to disorient Harry, task he thought could be a piece of cake for he was the master at this kind of stuff, however, he didn't count on Harry's seeker reflexes when he finally shot towards the lowest hoop and Harry caught it. It had been with some difficulty, but he had managed to stop the red ball from going through.

_James_ laughed, amazed. "You've got a great sight for someone who wears glasses."

"Comes from the one who inherited this to me." Harry said as he tapped his glasses and he saw _James_ flush slightly.

"Uh, yes... well..."

Harry noted something was wrong. Something other than _Lily_ was worrying _James,_ and he needed to know what was it. He gave _James_ a small smile, and slowly descended; _James _following him.

It was about seven thirty when they stepped into the cosy living room. _James_ took a shower while Harry went to his bedroom to check if Ginny had woken up. He found his wife sitting on her bed with Lily Luna talking about something concerning James Sirius and Albus. As soon as he put a foot on his room, they both looked a him and smiled innocently.

"Hello, love." Ginny said. "Good-morning."

"Morning, Dad." Lily Luna said giving him a toothy grin.

"Morning," he replied giving them both a suspicious glance. He pecked his wife on the lips and his daughter on the cheek. "What were you talking about?"

"Girl stuff." Ginny's answer came.

"Uh huh." He said, and he also sat down. Lily Luna's expression grew horrified. "Today I'm feeling extremely interested in understanding the female mind, enlighten me."

"Harry, do you really want to hear about _girl stuff?_" Ginny laughed.

Harry grinned and looked down at his hands. "Not really. I just came from playing Quidditch with my dad, so I'm feeling quite happy."

Ginny gave Lily Luna a pointed glance: this was her chance to escape the interrogation. She swiftly stood up, and made her way to the exit, she was lucky that her father hadn't heard her and her mother talking about Lysander.

She couldn't even begin to explain the happiness she felt that her dad had finally met his parents; and to see them for herself was even better. Her mum had told her when she was very little that she only had two grandparents instead of four like her cousins because they were in Heaven. James Sirius and Albus had looked away from her when she had approached Harry and had asked what that meant. They both had gone through the same, and James had gone through it twice. Now that she thought of it, it might have been that which made her older brother despise her questions about their parents teenage years; he had been the first one to find out, and that was the clue: he had _found out, _he hadn't been told about it.

When he had been asked about this the first year Lily entered Hogwarts, and the pressure that came with being Harry Potter's daughter and James Potter, heart-throb of the school's sister had overwhelmed her, he had answered with a slight smile and had told her about it...

_She found her brother by the couch he always seated on in the common room, looking over some papers she knew were the list of products fellow students had asked him to request from their Uncle George. She sat down beside him and stared into the flames, her hands shaking._

_James finally noticed her. "Hey, shortie. How's the first day treated you?"_

_She turned to face him with a shaky, small smile. "Not very good."_

"_I assumed something along that." He said and set down the papers. The tears Lily had been holding for the entire day finally made their way down her cheek. James sighed and hugged her to his side. "Sorry for all this, but you'll go through it, you're tough."_

"_The Slytherins came to me and tried to bully me. Good thing Albus appeared out of nowhere with Scorpius and saved me." A pause followed this statement. "James, is there something wrong with us? Did we do something wrong?"_

_James stared into Lily's eyes, so much like his and his mother's that he could easily read her. "First of all, Lils, remember, we haven't done anything wrong, and this is neither Dad no Mum's fault."_

"_What happened? Those Slytherins said something about me being clueless about everything."_

_Her brother couldn't take it anymore, he sighed again. "Well, when our parents were young there was this dark wizard called Voldemort, you know that, right? Dad, told you."_

"_Yes, and he also said he had to fight against him because he was causing a lot of bad things."_

"_That's right, so... when Dad tried to bring him down, he brought down others in the process, especially some of those Slytherins' relatives, which is why they can't... stand us."_

_Lily tilted her head to the side. "How did you find out about this? Did Dad tell you?"_

_She saw as James' face grew grim. She had never seen her brother looking so serious before, however, she felt both of them needed to talk about it. He seemed to be looking for the right words._

"_When... you were very little, Al and I were sent to the Burrow for a couple of days. We didn't know what was happening, of course, we only thought about meeting our cousins there to play with. You were with Mum and Dad." He paused and looked at her with a slightly reproachful look, as if he thought he deserved to have been there rather than her. Lily tried to ignore this._

"_So, while the adults got together at our house we were left in the care of Aunt Hermione for just one day, then Grandma came and replaced her. It was late at night, and everyone was sleeping, but I couldn't because I had left ehm... something." He blushed slightly, and Lily realized he must have been about to mention the teddy bear he had owned. "I went downstairs, looking for Aunt Hermione, thinking that maybe she could transfigure me that something and found her in the kitchen talking with Teddy."_

"_Teddy?"_

"_Yep. They were talking about Teddy's parents and about the day they had... died. Aunt Hermione said Dad had done everything he could to keep them alive, but in the end he couldn't do anything and it had happened. Teddy looked pretty shaken up, I had never seen him like that, his hair was grey, weird, huh?" He let out a half-hearted laugh. "Thing is, Aunt Hermione told Teddy everything about that day while I eavesdropped. I also learned why the adults were missing, they were at the Ministry giving some speeches and stuff. Of course, I asked Dad about it as soon as I saw him, he took it pretty well, actually."_

_Lily couldn't help but feel he wasn't letting on much. He hadn't specified what he had heard. Why hadn't he?_

And the answer had come when she met her father on the Christmas holidays. He told her all about it: the battle, the deaths and even how his relationship with Ginny had been on this period. James Sirius had refused to be by her side and listen to it all again, but Albus did stay with her.

_My oldest brother is a very difficult person to decipher,_ was the last thing she thought before walking down the hallway and opening the door to her bedroom to find _Lily _and Rose getting dressed.

"Hello, Lily." _Lily _said.

"Hey, namesake."

Rose gave Lily Luna an scandalised look. _Lily _took a second to register what the youngest redhead had just said before gaping at her. Lily Luna realised her mistake and stood stunned, but covered it with a mask of confidence.

_Lily _finally spoke. "W-What?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you, did I?" Lily Luna said feigning innocence. She sat down on her bed and gave Rose a quick gaze that meant to say "just go with it".

_Lily _also sat down. Now that she mentioned it, she had never given a single thought to the fact that the only daughter of James' spawn shared her name.

"Well," Lily Luna said. "It's not a very long story, it's actually quite simple. My grandfather – that's _James, _of course_ – _was Head Boy in your time and you were Head Girl, so you spent a lot of time together and became friends..."

"And then," the nervous voice that belonged to Rose said. "You just sort of... kind of... became as united as _James_ and Sirius are. So... you're like an Aunt for Uncle Harry, a very dear one, which is why Lily is named after you."

"Is that it?" _Lily _asked not knowing if she should be happy that she was someone's namesake or sad that _James _had moved on.

"Yep, that's pretty much it." Lily Luna said, somehow feeling her grandmother's stiffness.

"Oh."

Rose looked between them and not knowing what to do, shut herself in the bathroom. Lily was thinking of what else to tell _Lily. _

"Lily! Mum wants you all down here for breakfast!" she heard Albus calling them, and with a last look at her father's mother, she left the room.

**A/N: Ok, so this was kind of a filler, but expect something really big to happen in the next one, some L/J action and a lot of Sirius marauding. Please review!**


	13. Pensieve

**A/N: Hey, hey, hey! I'm back, and as I promised with a no-filler chapter. So, I hope you like this one, which is actually the one I wrote and inspired the whole story. Please review and tell me what you think!**

Two days later, a painful day for Remus and Teddy arrived: Full moon. The Marauders were going to be with Remus while it all happened, of course; Remus would take the Wolfsbane potion and would seclude himself in the top of the Potter Manor. Teddy, for his part, got in a terrible mood and snapped at everyone who talked to him.

The Marauders, being themselves, noticed something weird as they went up to the attic to be with their friend. James Sirius had come down from his room with a face that clearly said he wasn't up for anything fun, this shocked them, and asked him about it.

"It's nothing, really," he had said, but after a second he had become red with fury and had yelled. "It's just Teddy and his 'time of the month'" and directing his voice upstairs he shouted. "HE'S LIKE A BLOODY WOMAN ON FULL MOONS!"

Peter didn't really get into the matter as much as _James_ and Sirius did; he thought it was all in their heads, however, Padfoot and Prongs had already become suspicious, and this was not good.

* * *

The days had gone past and the Marauders had gotten used to the usual things happening at the Potter House. They would be woken up by Ginny's shriek as she chased James Sirius while he tried to read Lillian's new letter with no good results: Ginny would always sent him a Bat-Bogey Hex. Albus would enter the bedroom singing "Good morning, sunshine!" with Remus and a very sleepy Peter flanking him. Lily Luna, then, would proceed to scream bloody murder when James entered her room as he escaped from his mother ("I'm writing to Lysander, get out of here!" she would shout.)

Harry would be the peacemaker, and he would calm everyone down. The Marauders also knew that Rose and Hugo would come by daily for about half the day, and would be left in the care of Ginny, who had stayed at home for the holidays but was working on new articles for _The Prophet._

_James_ and _Lily_ hadn't spoken muchsince the night they had bickered, and it seemed as if the both of them had accorded so. Every time _James _or _Lily _were left in only the other's company, one of them would excuse themselves, and would leave. This was killing them.

Sirius and Remus had noticed this, and the latter had tried to talk some sense into _James, _asking him the reason; question _James_ hadn't answered. And truth was, he didn't know why hadn't he approached her. He hadn't been the one who started avoiding her, she was the one that tried to escape when he appeared on her line of vision.

On the other hand, _Lily _thought she needed to stay away from him for some time to think. The photograph she had seen and the fact that she was – in the future – _just _a dear friend of _James' _had stung in two different ways: being Lily Luna's namesake made her feel really sad and disappointed whereas the photograph had given her a strange feeling of longing, she wanted to kiss him, although not necessarily on the cheek...

She blushed, what in the world was she thinking? She looked at herself in the mirror as she washed her hands before having lunch. She refused to accept she wanted to kiss him, it was impossible. She shook her head violently before opening the door and bumping into something hard. She looked into the eyes of a very shirtless Sirius Black.

_Lily_ shrieked.

"That's what they all do, mate. Scream when they see me." Sirius told _James_ who was right behind him, also shirtless. _Lily _cursed herself as she stared at _James' _torso. Why did it have to be _him _to be shirtless? Couldn't it be Remus?

"Hey, have you seen my shampoo?" Remus said as he appeared from behind them. He didn't have a shirt on as well.

"What's with you and all the nude-walking parade?" _Lily _asked as she tried to look somewhere else.

Sirius smirked. "Like what you see, Evans? Because I'm sure you do."

"Leave her alone, Pads." _James _said, although he was also smiling.

"Yeah, Pads. Let's go and shower before having lunch." Remus added.

All of a sudden, _Lily _started laughing. The Marauders looked at each other with astonished faces.

"What are you laughing about, Red?"

"You..." _Lily_ said as soft giggles escaped from her mouth. "They... they called you... Pads!"

Understanding dawned on their faces. Sirius frowned and huffed while Remus and _James _laughed out loud. Peter, who had entered the living room, thankfully, completely dressed, started laughing when he heard his role-models doing so.

"It's not funny." Sirius growled.

"Oh, yes it is." _James _said as he covered his mouth to stop the laugher from coming out.

"It's short for Padfoot." Remus explained, and when _Lily _looked a little confused he said. "You know, that name we call Sirius, the one all of us have."

"Oh," the redhead said. "Like, James is called Prongs or something like that?"

"Yes, I'm Moony and Peter is Wormtail."

"How very interesting nicknames. Where did they come from?"

The five of them turned to see Ginny with their recently washed and ironed clothes. She was giving them a teasing and amused smile which the Marauders interpreted meant that she knew their secret.

"Well, I guess 'Moony' it's a reference to the moon? I mean, your being a werewolf and everything." _Lily _said surprising them.

"Um, yes." Remus answered.

"Then what about the others?"

"Why are you all taking so long? Have you already showered?" James Sirius entered the scene as the bell saving the Marauders. They gave him a thankful gaze he didn't really comprehend. The three of them escaped to the bathroom while _Lily _frowned, suspicion written all over her face.

They had lunch, which consisted of roast beef with rice and went to the living room, having nothing else to do, _Lily _stayed to help Ginny with the dishes.. The four boys found James Sirius listening to the Wireless.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked him when James Sirius, noticing their presence, changed the station as fast as he could.

"Uh... searching for my mum's favourite programme! It's usually on at this hour – found it!" He grinned sheepishly.

"...and as I was telling you, Madge, there's been nothing new about Viktor Krum and his lady friend..."

"Ugh, James," Lily Luna said as she entered the place. "You know Mum hates Rita Skeeter, why are you even listening to that cow?"

James Sirius gave his sister a hard look. "Thanks, Lily." He muttered under his breath making Lily Luna roll her eyes at him.

The Marauders didn't comment this, but were pretty sure there was something the whole Potter family was trying to keep hidden from them, and they hated not knowing what is going on. Sirius knew he had to do something to dig in that secret everyone was holding.

* * *

_James _sat on his bed staring at the golden snitch on the small table on James Sirius's bed's side. Lying there, shining with the light of the moon outside. Could it be that he had finally moved on? Could it be true that he didn't love _Lily _anymore?

He sighed, knowing his future hadn't been as good as he had thought. He stretched to the side and opened the drawer, taking out a small rectangular box with the name 'Lily' carved on it. He had to give it to her, even if just as friends, he had to give it to her, and he had to do it now.

He was about to throw the covers of the bed away when he heard Sirius grunting and saw him stand up. Sirius walked to the door and left the room, closing the door swiftly behind him. _James_ didn't know why, but instead of telling Sirius about what he wanted to do, he simply rearranged the blankets on top of him and shoved his face onto the pillow.

He had to give it to her, and _soon_.

* * *

It was late at night when _Lily _rested in her bed still completely awake – something that happened often now – that she took the decision of lifting her body off the bed, and go to the living room to warm up a little, for it was very cold.

She made her way out of the bedroom slowly, trying hard to not wake Lily Luna up when-

"Yes, dad. We won't say anything."

She turned around afraid that Lily Luna might have woken up, but she just stirred and turned; her eyes closed. Lily sighed and then shrugged. _She must sleep-talk, _she thought, and walked downstairs. Her eyes narrowed as light hit her face, and she realized she wasn't alone in the place.

"Hey there, Evans."

Sirius was sitting in the love-seat with James' invisibility cloak to his side. Hegave her a small smile, and she returned it blushing. She remembered how he had taunted _James_ and her, and as she thought of _James, _she remembered their entwined hands after flying together in the same broom, holding to his chest as she yelled his name... she had to recognize she had felt very, _very _happy fooling around with him.

"Couldn't sleep." She muttered.

Siriuspointed to himself. "Me neither." and patted the seat next to him. She walked up to him, and sat down looking straight into the fire.

"I've been wondering," She told Sirius. "They haven't told us much, you know? Just that we're Aurors, and that James is Harry's dad," _Lily_ flinched. "But they haven't given us important details, like who James got married to," Sirius' eyes flew to _Lily_. "And Harry didn't answer if any of the us had a spouse or kids."

"I've been thinking about that too. I mean, Harry said quite a lot of things about me and the others because he is supposed to know, since we are James' friends but, how come he knows about you? It's not that he's talked much about your future-self, but he seems to know you."

"According to Lily Luna, we became really close, as close as you are with him."

"Well, that must be it then, you're friends." He said, although he didn't look at her in the eye.

_Lily _felt as if she had been stabbed in the heart. It hurt her to hear him saying they were friends, reminding her that he was now a married man with a son, daughter-in-law and beautiful and intelligent grandkids. It was not fair that when she was starting to realize about her feelings for _James, _that she would have her heart crushed to pieces so soon.

Siriusseemed to sense her mood, and hesitantly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer so that she would lean on him. She looked up at him, and he raised his eyebrows.

"Don't be sad, Lily. I'm sure he-"

And then, something smooth was covering them. _Lily_ saw Sirius making her a silence sign with his finger, and she made the motion of zipping her mouth.

"So tired." A voice said from the office.

"It's Harry." Sirius muttered to _Lily_ and she nodded noiselessly. They watched as Harry stretched, yawned and closed the door of his office, before going upstairs. They sighed in unison and Sirius let out a soft chuckle. _Lily _smiled at him, and she saw his eyes flicker towards the office; his eyes glinting with mischief.

_Oh no, hell no! _Lily thought and her eyes widened. Sirius gave her a smirk and she shook her head furiously at him. _No, no, no, no! No way!_

"Evans, what do you say about paying a visit inside Harry's office?"

"No."

"But-"

"No way."

"Listen to me, first!"

"No!"

"Fine."

"..."

"Come on!"

"No!"

"Lily," Sirius said huffing. "There might be something to tell us the truth inside that office! We can discover a lot of things from our future there!"

"I will not be trespassing someone else's privacy!"

"Fine. I'll go alone then." And before _Lily_ could say anything back, he stood up and muttered "_Alohomora." _very quietly while pointing his wand at the door's handle. Something clicked, and the door opened slightly, revealing a strange glow.

_Lily_ followed Sirius reluctantly. She had to stop him before he did anything. She entered the small office and found herself in between piles of papers, and some photographs surrounding the desk. Sirius looked back at her and grinned, signing the source of the glowing.

It was a pensieve.

_Lily _stared at it without words, Sirius frowned at it, and then looked at the red-head in front of him.

"Apparently, we'll get a few answers now."

**DONE! Took sooooo long to finally finish it, well, I hope I get the next chapter sooner than I got this one, can't wait for the next chapter, which I think will be quite long!**

**REVIEW!**


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